OXNARD : Man to Be Arraigned in Land Title Scheme

A Santa Barbara man is scheduled to be arraigned today on charges of grand theft and forgery in connection with $79,000 in fake trust deeds for residences in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Roy Amor, 37, is being held in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, authorities said Wednesday.

Amor is accused of forging the deeds, used to record mortgages with the county, and offering them to investors at low prices.

Amor tried to make the deal look legitimate by offering title insurance along with the purchase, officials said.

“We think he had some real estate background because he definitely knew what he was doing,” Oxnard Detective Richard Harris said.

Amor is believed to have organized the alleged scheme using 42-year-old Gerald Cantrell of Ventura as a middleman. Amor allegedly fabricated a $26,000 trust deed on Alfred Martinez’s property on La Puerta Avenue in Oxnard and registered it with the county, making Cantrell the beneficiary.

Amor then allegedly planned to sell it through Cantrell at the discounted price of $24,000, but authorities say they learned of the scam before he could.

The buyer visited the property unexpectedly and told Martinez he was interested in buying his title deed, Harris said.

Martinez then notified Ticor Title Insurance, the company Amor hired to handle and insure the transaction, police said. Ticor also thought the deed was legitimate because it was registered with the county. The company then notified authorities.

Police set up a sting operation, allowing the transaction to take place, Harris said. When Cantrell accepted the check from buyer Ernest Villapando in Ticor’s office Monday, police arrested him.

If the deal had gone through, Ticor would have been responsible for paying the fake deed off to Villapando, said Frank Medina, vice president of the Ventura branch.

Cantrell led police to where Amor was to pick up the money Cantrell deposited in a trash bin, and police arrested Amor, Harris said.

Cantrell might not have to face charges because he helped in the sting operation, Harris said. Amor and Cantrell had never met because Amor was afraid of being caught, officials said.

Amor was charged with the same crimes in an identical scam in Santa Barbara involving a $55,000 trust deed and is suspected of several others in Lompoc and Ventura, officials said.

Amor used the name Ron Owens in the $24,000 Ventura transaction and might also go by Roy O’Brien, Roy Obertson or Rob Oates, Harris said.