Suspect in Land Fraud Surrenders to Authorities

A Palmdale woman suspected of bilking 253 low-income investors of more than $1.4 million in phony land deals surrendered to authorities Wednesday and is expected to be arraigned this week on dozens of charges of fraud.

Carolina Acio Paredes, 68, will face 44 felony counts of grand theft, use of false statements to sell securities and use of artifice or a scheme to sell securities, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Victor M. Minjares, who is handling the case.

Minjares said Paredes, whose activities were detailed in a 1997 Times report, sold investors raw land that had not been subdivided, while falsely claiming that the parcels were ready for building and individual sale. She also took out mortgages against the properties, but told investors that the land was unencumbered, he said.

Paredes could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and her former attorney, Rodney Vosguanian of Woodland Hills, said he no longer represents her.

According to Minjares, Paredes and co-defendants Nenita Paredes and Gloria Palacol could be sentenced to a maximum of 13 years in prison if convicted. Nenita Paredes is Carolina Paredes’ daughter-in-law.

The Paredes investigation came to light shortly after another high profile desert land case, in which developer Marshall Redman was charged with several counts of grand theft and fraud for selling raw land, mostly to Latino immigrants.

But there are more charges against Carolina Paredes than against Redman. She has been named in 44 felony counts and he is accused of 29 counts, not all of them felonies.

A native of the Philippines, Paredes is accused of what fraud investigators call an “affinity group” crime, targeting people like herself: Filipino women who would then persuade their husbands to sign on.

The alleged victims included hotel maids and sugar-cane workers in Hawaii and California, some of whom lost their life savings, Minjares and other investigators said.

The land they thought they had purchased was located mostly near Palmdale and Lake Los Angeles.

In 1996, Paredes was sued by the government of Hawaii and forced to relinquish her real estate license. She later gave up her license to sell real estate in California.

Minjares said that when investigators searched Paredes’ home, they found packed suitcases and an airline ticket to the Philippines.

Those items, along with her passport, were seized, Minjares said. Minjares said that he will request that bail be set for Paredes at $2 million.