Office, Valley Homes of 2 Men Raided in Fraud Inquiry

WOODLAND HILLS — Sheriff’s deputies investigating fraud on senior citizens raided the homes of two Woodland Hills men and their office near Hollywood on Tuesday morning, seizing computers and financial records.

Seven women, all more than 75 years old, have complained that three home-remodeling firms have bilked them out of tens of thousands of dollars and left them in jeopardy of losing their homes.

Telemarketers with Century Home Improvement Inc., Pacific Remodeling and MY Construction Co. arranged appointments with the women for salesmen who inspected their properties and suggested improvements. All three companies are owned by two men who are business partners, investigators said.

“My impression is that they are targeting the elderly,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. Larry Landreth of the forgery and fraud unit. “Once they are in the home, they are conning them, talking them into enormous amounts of remodeling--oftentimes the jobs are overpriced three to four times their worth.”

Once the women authorized proposed renovations, the companies immediately started working on the properties and only then financed the projects through loans secured by the women’s homes, Landreth said.

“The victims are telling me that they don’t remember filling out loan applications; they just remember signing a lot of papers,” he said. “Nothing is being explained to them as far as what they were signing.”

The deeds of trust that the women signed were all processed by two finance companies, DFS Financial Services and Money USA. Authorities are considering investigating those companies as well, Landreth said.

In one case, a salesman exploited fears of El Nino rains to persuade an Artesia woman to finance a $60,000 replacement roof. Landreth said the work was shoddy and when the woman complained and demanded that they stop work, laborers continued the project and the remodeling company billed her anyway. She refused to pay and nearly lost her home in a foreclosure action, Landreth said.

The Artesia woman’s loan application was approved even though her only income was $980 a month in Social Security benefits and the monthly loan payment was $409, Landreth said.

Other victims were from Long Beach, South-Central Los Angeles and Paramount.

Investigators are reviewing the files seized in the 9 a.m. raids. The files date back to 1991 and could lead investigators to other alleged victims, Landreth said.

There have been no arrests.