* An Orange County businessman who escaped...
* An Orange County businessman who escaped from a prison last month has been indicted in U.S. District Court in San Diego on 28 counts of mail fraud and bankruptcy fraud.
Ronald L. Rushton, 45, allegedly acquired title to 500 residential properties in Southern California and elsewhere, including an unspecified number in San Diego County, by falsely promising owners that their delinquent mortgages would be assumed, Asst. U.S. Atty Stephen P. Clark said Thursday.
Rushton, who did business at a La Jolla address as Tierrasanta Development, would then collect rent on the properties but make no payments on the mortgages, Clark said. He transferred title to several properties to a bankrupt corporation, obtaining an automatic stay from foreclosure and stretching out the time he could collect rent checks.
The indictments allege that Rushton placed the companies in bankruptcy merely to realize the maximum illegal skimming of rent checks. Rushton used six corporations for his illegal scheme, Clark said, but his principal base apparently was Western Consolidated Capital in Laguna Hills.
The scheme often generated monthly rental income of $100,000 from 1983 to 1985, Clark said. Rushton allegedly drummed up business with newspaper advertising directed at financially troubled homeowners.
Rushton was convicted of two counts of mail fraud by a Reno, Nev., court last April and sentenced to prison. He escaped from a federal prison camp at Boron, Calif. on Nov. 10 and is still at large.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
