Chino Hills Realtor sentenced to 90 days for loan forgery

SAN BERNARDINO -- A Chino Hills real estate agent was sentenced to 90 days in jail today after pleading guilty to forging more than $900,000 in loan documents.

Anita Mendoza, 44, was accused of forging another person's signature to obtain the loans, which she used to purchase a home in Chino Hills in 2006.

In addition to the jail time -- which Mendoza can serve on weekends -- the Realtor was placed on three years' probation today in San Bernardino Superior Court and ordered to attend a counseling program.

If she violates her probation, Mendoza could be sentenced to two years in state prison.

As part of a plea bargain reached with prosecutors last month, Mendoza agreed to plead guilty to two felonies.

She will be required to pay back $180,000 lost by a mortgage company victimized in her scheme, Deputy District Attorney Vance Welch said last month.

When Mendoza was interviewed by investigators last month, she confessed to forging loan documents to purchase her home.

Welch said last month that Mendoza told investigators that being caught was "almost a relief for her" because the crime had been weighing on her mind.