Wife of Compton Mayor and Sister Booked in Fraud

Compton Mayor Walter R. Tucker’s wife and her sister were booked for investigation of grand theft Tuesday for allegedly failing to place a real estate client’s $45,000 payment in escrow, authorities said.

Martha Tucker, 51, and Barbara Hall, 44, surrendered at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lakewood Station, and were later released on $1,500 bail.

Deputy Drew Basey said the two women are accused of real estate fraud involving a multi-unit apartment building in Los Angeles.

A man, whose identity was withheld, wanted to buy the building and allegedly gave the two women $45,000 that was to have been placed in an escrow account, the deputy said.

“There is no evidence that the money was ever placed in escrow,” Basey said. “The victim never took possession of the property.”

Basey said the transaction took place last year at the Mattco Financial Co. offices in Lynwood.

A state Department of Real Estate computer check of license holders Tuesday, however, showed no real estate sales or brokers licenses for either Tucker or Hall, a department spokesman said.

The district attorney’s office has asked the state attorney general to prosecute the case because of a possible conflict of interest.

A spokesman explained that Tucker’s son, Walter Rayford Tucker III, was until recently a deputy district attorney and is now his mother’s defense lawyer.

Assistant Atty. Gen. Terry T. Fujimoto would not comment on the case, other than to say that he “will be filing a felony complaint later this week.”

Neither Martha Tucker nor Hall could be reached for comment Tuesday. Mayor Tucker, reached after a City Council meeting, declined to comment.