Estates woman who received $615k in loans found not guilty of mortgage fraud charges

FORT MYERS — The prosecution portrayed 38-year-old Damarys Llorca as someone who knowingly helped a Realtor, notary, her husband, and others inflate the price of two homes so she could get a hefty mortgage, and everyone could make money at closings.

A prosecutor argued her story wasn’t believable: She claimed she didn’t understand English, trusted her Realtor and didn’t know what information he put on documents that enabled her to get $615,000 in loans for two homes on her $9.90 hourly salary.

“Ms. Llorca’s story is, “I heard no evil and I’ve seen no evil,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Barclift told a federal jury during his 35-minute closing argument Friday. “... There were plenty of shenanigans going on in this case. There is overwhelming evidence of knowingly making false statements.”

He mocked her claims that she didn’t speak English, pointing out she’d answered at least twice in English while an interpreter translated her testimony. But if jurors did believe her story, Barclift urged them to acquit her.

The defense portrayed the Golden Gate Estates woman as a victim of third-party fraud by her Realtor, who skipped town, and others who made money off the deals and didn’t testify.

“How can the government prove this if their own witnesses were victims of the same fraud?” Naples defense attorney Lee Hollander said in his 20-minute summation, referring to three sellers. “In this case, fraud was perpetrated by (Realtor) Moises Gomez, the loan processor and ... the closer, Ms. (Lisett) Matos.”

Hollander reminded jurors of the dozens of signatures on closing documents that Llorca, the sellers and others testified weren’t theirs, but forgeries.

It took the nine-woman, three-man jury a little more than an hour Friday night to acquit Llorca, who cried as her relieved family sat behind her. As jurors left, some blew kisses and waved to Llorca as she cried in relief in the hallway.

She was too emotional to comment, but Hollander said, “She was a victim of her Realtor, Moises Gomez, just like three of the government’s witnesses.”

Hollander; his private investigator, John Hisler; his wife, Patricia Hisler, a mortgage fraud consultant; paralegal Clara Beshears; Llorca’s friend, Lissette Chavez, a defense team paralegal, all left the Fort Myers courthouse with Llorca and her family for a celebratory dinner.

Barclift and co-prosecutor Yolande Viacava couldn’t comment and the office’s spokesman, Steve Cole, couldn’t be reached.

It couldn’t be determined if they will prosecute Gomez. State records show he didn’t renew his real estate broker’s license, it was voided Sept. 30, 2008, but he just applied for a new one. He couldn’t be reached for comment.

Llorca’s case appears to be the only mortgage fraud indictment or complaint that went to trial in Fort Myers.

She was indicted last fall during a large sweep called the Mortgage Fraud Initiative that ended in more than 100 people charged or indicted statewide, including more than three dozen in the Middle District, which includes Collier and Lee counties. Among those charged were Realtors, title employers, bankers and two Cape Coral police officers. Three lawyers were targeted and questioned, but apparently cooperated and were never charged publicly.

A superseding indictment charged Llorca with two counts of credit application fraud for over-inflating the price of her 16th Avenue Southwest home and lying on her application, saying she earned $7,479.79 monthly as a manufacturing manager at Gulf Coast American Blind Corp. of Naples, when she really earned $9.90 hourly as an automatic machine operator.

She was charged with making false statements on a loan application to Indymac Bank in an attempt to get a $281,200 loan in May 2007 that the bank turned down.

A second count alleged she applied for a $305,000 loan from Horizon bank for the same home, when the purchase price was $269,144.20, and claiming she worked for Three GGG Inc. and earned $7,479.79 monthly. The closing was in August, she made three monthly payments, but remained there until foreclosure forced her out.

U.S. District Judge John Steele allowed prosecutors to present “404B evidence,” a prior, similar crime to bolster its case: She’d purchased a home on 12th Street Northeast for an inflated $310,000. Her loan application, which she said Gomez also filled out, said she earned $6,067 monthly at company she’d never heard of. They also showed she filed 2006 and 2007 IRS tax returns as “head of household,” when she was married to Pavel Rodriguez.

During the four-day trial, prosecutors presented 14 witnesses, including bankers, notaries, closers, three sellers, and the special agent who investigated. Llorca was the sole defense witness.

The prosecution showed money was deposited into her checking account to fatten it so her loan applications would be approved, and that her husband received $20,000 from the 12th Street purchase in July, although Llorca testified she was unaware. She received nearly $36,000 at the August 2007 closing for the 16th Street home, but testified Friday her Realtor told her to give him $20,000 and she got the rest for repairs; the prosecution showed the sellers turned over about $3,000 for repairs, which weren’t major.

Llorca testified she did everything her Realtor advised, including giving him blank checks, and he filled out the documents, which she couldn’t read. Although one notary testified he was at closing, she told jurors: “Mr. (Robert) Andrews was lying. He was never there. I never saw him there.”

As Hollander showed jurors documents on a large screen, asking Llorca if it was her signature or writing in English, she said “no” dozens of times. Earlier, he showed jurors that even the sellers and others testified their signatures were forged on closing documents.