Realty World Tri-Shasta

Shasta County District Attorney Investigator Robert Angulo, who is located in the Real Estate fraud division, sent me an email this morning regarding foreclosure stripping. During one of his various presentations he does a question was asked of him regarding foreclosure stripping, upon conducting some research he discovered that there are in fact two California Penal Code sections that may be applicable in regards to a person who has stripped their house of appliances and fixtures after the property has been foreclosed on.

Here are the two California Penal Codes:

PC 154. (a) Every debtor who fraudulently removes his or her property or effects out of this state, or who fraudulently sells, conveys, assigns or conceals his or her property with intent to defraud, hinder, or delay his or her creditors of their rights, claims, or demands, is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(b) Where the property so removed, sold, conveyed, assigned, or concealed consists of a stock in trade, or a part thereof, of a value exceeding one hundred dollars ($100), the offense shall be a felony punishable as such.

PC 155. (a) Every person against whom an action is pending, or against whom a judgment has been rendered for the recovery of any personal property, who fraudulently conceals, sells, or disposes of that property, with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the person bringing the action or recovering the judgment, or with such intent removes that property beyond the limits of the county in which it may be at the time of the commencement of the action or the rendering of the judgment, is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(b) Where the property so concealed, sold, disposed of, or removed consists of a stock trade, or part thereof, of a value exceeding one hundred dollars ($100), the offense shall be a felony and punishable as such.

Mr. Angulo further told me that the Lender/Bank needs to be the reporting party, as they are the victim. What would help the case even more is if there are photos of the property showing that the appliances and fixtures where in the home prior to the property being foreclosed upon. An example of this would be prior listing photos where the items are apparent in the photo.

There has been a lot of real estate fraud, even here in Shasta County. For the ones out there who are facing foreclosure, there is a new law that has passed according to the California Department of Justice regarding up front fees on foreclosure relief services. Click on the following link to read about it.
 http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?…

I received this press release from the board meeting last week. I feel this information is important to a lot of home owners here in Shasta County, especially the one’s who are affected by the previous bill passing involving the septic tank regulations.

Assemblyman Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) announced today that he is co-authoring a bill with Assemblyman Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) that would immediately repeal Assembly Bill  885. The proposed regulations, released in November 2008 by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), would required residents to pay for septic tank inspection fees and groundwater testing every 5 years, at a minimum cost to homeowners of $650.

The bill authored by Assemblyman Gaines and Assemblyman Nielsen is AB 268. If passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor, it would negate AB 885 and halt any proposed regulations from taking effect.

“I am pleased to co-author this measure to repeal this ill-conceived and onerous regulation,” stated Nielsen. “The State Government must not mandate ‘one-size-fits-all’ regulations that disproportinally affect rural counties. The regulations created by AB 885 will needlessly hurt homeowners and should be stopped in their tracks.”

“Although the SWRCB has temporarily postponed implementation of these regulations, this fight is far from over. The Board is still planning to approve these new septic tank regulations. I encourage everyone to continue writing letters of opposition to the State Water Board until this regulation is successfully repealed, once and for all,’ concluded Nielsen.

Letters of opposition to AB 885 and the proposed septic tank regulations should be sent to: