Mission Viejo Man Charged in Loan Mod Scam

A Mission Viejo man and four others will be arraigned Monday on charges of defrauding hundreds of victims in a real estate scam, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Andrew Michael Phalen, 25, faces 11 felonies, the D.A.'s office says. Charges include grand theft by false pretenses and elder theft.

Three of the five are accused of forging loan modification letterhead and defrauding over 100 people.

A conviction could mean up to 10 years in state prison for Phalen of Mission Viejo.

He's accused of setting up at least 10 fraudulent loan modification businesses.

Phalen's codefendants are: Jacob John Cunningham, 24, Irvine; Justin Dennis Koelle, 23, Costa Mesa; Dominic Adam Nolan, 30, Irvine, and; John D. Silva, 27, Irvine.

Here's the D.A.'s version of events.

The five men sent loan modification assistance letters throughout the country from Jan. 2009 to this month. When someone called to ask about the loan mod, they were told the company had a 100 percent success rate, and that they would be completely refunded if the company could not secure a loan modification, the D.A. says.

When people sent in money, they weren't repaid or refunded, the D.A. says.

During this time, the D.A. accuses the men of "regularly changing the names, phone numbers, and addresses of the companies."

Three of the alleged conspirators, Silva, Nolan and Cunningham, are accused of starting a different fraud in late Dec. 2011. The D.A. says they forged CitiFinancial and CitiMortgage logos in the letterheads of "Conditional Approval" letters, which promised interest rates of 2.8 percent or less for home refinancing.

The D.A. is still looking for information, and anyone who has it can call Supervising District Attorney Investigator Eric Akerlind at (714) 347-8691.