Local News in Brief : Fraud Scheme Stopped

Santa Monica officials say they have stopped a scheme aimed at collecting homestead fees from nearly 5,000 Westside residents.

In a civil suit filed Friday in Superior Court, the city alleged that Robert W. Winfield, “cloaking himself in the guise of a county agency” called the L.A. County Recording Service, mailed notices to area homeowners, telling them to pay from $10 to $65 for homestead filings that help protect home investments against some legal claims or risk liens of up to $60,000. The city obtained a preliminary injunction ordering Winfield to stop the mailings and turn in to police all responses he receives.

More than 200 people had sent in money by Friday, Santa Monica City Atty. Robert Myers said. The envelopes were sealed, however, and the amount was not known. “No consumer will have lost money because of this,” Myers said.

Winfield’s lawyer, Elliot Stanford, said Winfield was offering a homestead service and “had no willful intention to defraud, but rather a lack of knowledge of the legal requirements for mailing notices.”