Faces 6 1/2 Years : Foreclosure Consultant Charged With Bilking Clients

A Hawthorne man who promised to help clients stave off home foreclosures has been charged by the Los Angeles city attorney with bilking three families out of hundreds of dollars each.

Richard Griffin, 56, faces up to 6 1/2 years in prison if convicted on seven criminal counts of false advertising and violations of the state’s Civil Code. Griffin is accused of leaving the families “high and dry” without assistance after taking $590 from each to fight off foreclosure on their homes, said Deputy City Atty. Ellen Pais.

He is to be arraigned July 12 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Complaints From 25 Others

Los Angeles police are investigating complaints from 25 other clients. And in Orange County, Griffin is being held by Garden Grove police in lieu of $10,000 bail on a similar charge.

“Most of these people are struggling to make ends meet,” Pais said, “and they paid their last dollar so they wouldn’t lose all the equity in their homes.”

Griffin mailed flyers all over the county, promising homeowners who faced foreclosure that he would help in refinancing their homes, said Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn.

Griffin filed bankruptcy papers on behalf of his clients, a standard procedure to stall foreclosure, but took no steps to refinance the homes, Pais said. And the desperate families said they could not find Griffin or any of his several businesses--Moneylenders Network, Home Loan Network, First National Network and Neighborhood Foreclosure Network--when they tried to contact him at addresses and phone numbers he supplied. Three of the addresses were fictitious and the fourth was a flower shop, Pais said.

Forced to Sell

Hahn said that the families were left with little time to make alternative plans and at least two were forced to sell their homes.

Foreclosure consultants are required by the state to provide clients with a contract and to accept payment only after work has been completed. Griffin is charged with failing to provide contracts and with taking prepayments from three homeowners--for a total of six misdemeanor charges. The seventh charge, for false advertising, stems from Griffin’s unfulfilled promises to help the families prevent foreclosure, Pais said.

Police are also looking for Griffin’s son, Mike Johnson, 32, in connection with the alleged scheme. Johnson has been charged with petty theft and false advertising. Pais said Johnson posed as a home appraiser, accepting a $150 payment from one family without performing any service.