Help Sought in Search for Suspects in Scheme to Cheat Elderly Latinos Out of Their Homes

Los Angeles County authorities on Thursday asked for the public’s help in locating three accused members of a fraud ring that victimize elderly Latino homeowners--among them a man who was dying of cancer--by bilking them out of their homes.

Sought by the district attorney’s office are Antonio Marcheit, Miguel Sanchez and Giannella Socrate, who are accused of operating the real estate scam from two unlicensed realty offices in Montebello. A fourth member of the ring, Edgar Socrate, 55, has been convicted on grand theft charges and was sentenced last week to six years in state prison.

Gary Helton, senior investigator for the district attorney’s office, said Edgar Socrate had once been a real estate agent in East Los Angeles and obtained the names of potential victims from the Multiple Listing Service, a list of properties that have been put up for sale.

Working out of two bogus real estate offices in Montebello, Socrate contacted potential sellers in an attempt to glean driver’s license information, Social Security numbers and other data that he would later use to assume their identity, Helton said.

With fictitious identification, members of the ring would then pose as both the buyer and seller of the victim’s house, obtain a home loan and, when escrow closed, take title to the property.

“They’d sell the victims’ houses right out from under them,” Helton said. “In some cases, the people had no idea what had happened until we knocked on their door.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Helton or Armando Fraga at (213) 974-3665.