Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 | 4:45 p.m.
CARSON CITY — Two men and a woman have been arrested in an alleged mortgage scam that preyed on homeowners facing foreclosures in Las Vegas, state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said.
Alex Soria, Sonia Rodis and Hans Johns have been charged with two counts each of mortgage fraud and theft in excess of $2,500.
Masto said Soria and Rodis would, for a fee, prepare documents called “affidavits of fact and deeds of full reconveyance,” offcials said. They promised homeowners these documents in a so-called Zero Mortgage Program would eliminate their mortgages and continue their ownership, authorities said.
Johns would notarize the documents and the homeowner would file them with the Clark County Recorder’s Office, authorities said. Masto said it would be several months before the banks or lenders learned of the scheme and started foreclosures, leaving the homeowners worse off than before.
Masto said Soria has been in federal custody at the Southern Nevada Detention Center in Pahrump on a similar charge, but she alleged he continued to operate through his partners. They ran a company called BioGreen Teck but changed the name to Good Government League after Soria’s arrest, officials said.
“These arrests are an important step in protecting homeowners,” Masto said. “It is appalling that these individuals would make their livelihood off struggling Nevadans, including victims who are over 60 years old.”
The attorney general said Soria was advised by the Clark County district attorney’s office that the documents had no legal effect.
Rodis and Johns are due for arraignment Monday. No bail has been set for them.
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