Property Scam Suspect Came to L.A., Police Say

A woman who jumped bail after her arrest on multiple counts of real estate fraud in Huntington Beach in 1984 has been identified as the suspect in a similar scam in Los Angeles County, a detective said.

Sgt. Bob Brown of the Los Angeles Police Department said Friday that Eva Patricia Verner, now 43, has been identified through photographs by a Covina woman, one of two victims of Verner’s alleged scam.

“She’s the one. There’s no doubt in my mind,” Brown said.

Verner, then living in Mission Viejo, was arrested by Huntington Beach police in June, 1984, after investigators discovered a major fraud operation involving the sale of properties. Using 13 fictitious names, Verner allegedly was involved in a number of real estate transactions on property she did not own.

Verner, a naturalized citizen originally from Poland, pleaded not guilty to 27 counts of grand theft and forgery. She was held on $200,000 bail, but later posted $50,000 bond when it was reduced. Once released from jail, she disappeared.

In the Huntington Beach cases, Verner was suspected of selling vacant land or abandoned houses she did not own. She allegedly would advertise the properties in newspapers as “distress sales” at very low prices.

Brown alleged Friday that Verner has claimed two victims in recent months in Los Angeles, and that there might be others who have not been uncovered yet.

“I guarantee you there are more victims out there,” he said. “You could have your house sold now and you wouldn’t even know it.”

According to Brown, a woman, using the name Janet or Jane Guest, called Cheryl Ekstrom of Covina and offered to rent a house Ekstrom owned in Diamond Bar. Although claiming that she needed the house immediately to accommodate her ailing mother, the house was never occupied.

“What she would do is she would file a new deed, substituting the (real) lender with a fictitious lender,” Brown said.

The woman then listed the house with a real estate broker and sold it for “$20,000 to $50,000” less than it was worth, police said. Shortly before the deal closed, a woman, believed now to be Verner, called the escrow company holding proceeds from the fraudulent sale and gave specific instructions on where to send the money.

“It was a large wire transaction, made to an American bank and then transferred to a Canadian bank,” Brown said, adding that the money eventually ended up in a bank account in the Cayman Islands.

The woman was able to pull off the entire scam in less than a month. The owner did not realize that “Guest” had sold her property until July 27, Brown said. Two weeks ago, he said, “Guest” was positively identified by Ekstrom as the woman who jumped bail in Huntington Beach four years ago.

The second victim, who lives in La Verne, was duped in a similar manner, Brown said.