Two Arrested in Real Estate Fraud Scheme

Two people were arrested after investigators from the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office Real Estate Fraud Unit searched a Fontana realty office.

Officials went to Fidelity Group Realty and Legal Services as part of an ongoing investigation over the filing of fraudulant Substitution of Trustee and Full Reconveyance and Release of Lien Documents at the San Bernardino County Recorder's Office, the district attorney's office said in a news release.

The documents are usually filed by banking institutions after a mortgage is paid in full. The two suspects were signing as "authorized representatives" of various banks on more than 70 documents. The documents affected $17 million in home loans.

Victims in the case were charged between $3,500 to $7,000 for services that they thought were paying off their home loans in an effort to avoid foreclosure.

Stephen Andrew Easterly and Emanuel Percival were taken into custody and booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

In addition to charges for filing fraudulant documents, Easterly was accused with creating fictitious checks and mailing them to banking institutions, and then telling victims he had paid off their loans.

Easterly is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, and Percival is being held on $35,000 bail.