Real-estate fraud still alive in the I.E.

   His team is inundated with phone calls every week from homeowners upside down in their mortgages, but all he can do is turn them to other sources for help. The unit's job is to investigate and prosecute the bad guys, not untangle troubled borrowers from their financial worries.

   And for claims that reach investigation status, it's very difficult to make a case.

   Locals are claiming they got burned when mortgage-industry schemers had them sign documents that sunk them further into debt while lining the predators' pockets with cash.

   "We have to have independent evidence," Roberts said. "If the borrower says, `I was told A, B and C,' it's just their word against the suspect's word. But if multiple victims can corroborate each other ... it's evidence that can go to a jury."

   Most defendants plead out, and they usually get probation.

   But the sad part is almost none of the convicted real-estate fraud criminals Roberts' office prosecutes have money to repay what they've stolen from victims.

   Hesperia couple Ruben Lopez and Guillermina Rosas haven't lost their home, but one situation tested them.

   The couple fell on hard times over the past year. Lopez is making half the sales he used to as a Goodyear tire retail salesman, and Rosas' six-day work weeks as a dental assistant have been cut in half. They're living on credit cards and can barely afford to pay their mortgage.

   In a desperate attempt to avoid a foreclosure, Rosas sought help from a local company.

   "She signed papers," Lopez said. "They kept saying to her, `Keep signing, don't worry about it."'

   For $4,500 - with Rosas paying half that amount up front - the company said it would keep the couple from going into foreclosure, but that the plan would only work if they got behind in their mortgage payments. The company told them not to worry, Ruben said.

   But they did worry. After talking to friends and thinking it over, Ruben and Rosas stopped payment on their $2,250 check. They persuaded the company to close the deal because they got nervous and wanted to back out.

   The couple never got the wool pulled over their eyes, but their story is just one example of how troubled homeowners can easily sign papers they don't fully understand.

   Foreclosure fraud is the unit's latest buzz, Roberts said. Foreclosed homeowners are claiming they paid $2,000, $3,000 or more to companies promising debtor relief, only to find they were stabbed in the back.

   From July 2007 to July 2008, the 10-person district attorney's unit received almost 460 formal complaints from residents across the county claiming they were burned by mortgage or foreclosure fraud. The suspects are based all over Southern California.

   That number could grow by leaps and bounds over the next year, but there's a fair chance Roberts' staff size will remain the same.

   A bill that would provide more funding to county real-estate fraud units statewide made it to Gov. Schwarzenegger's desk, but the state's budget impasse is getting the spotlight right now.

   Still, Roberts presses onward.

   "We're here to hurt offenders," he said. "We represent the interests of the people of the state of California."

Predatory lenders promise loans that are too good to be true and pressure borrowers to take them on the spot. Here's a few things that should be seen as red flags: