HOA defendant gets probation for notary conviction
A former loan processor and notary public was sentenced Monday to two years probation for her role in the massive scheme to take over Las Vegas-area homeowners associations.
Mahin Quintero, 30, who now lives in Northern Nevada, pleaded guilty in April 2012 to a misdemeanor charging her with falsely authenticating straw buyer signatures on loan documents in the multimillion-dollar scheme.
She is one of roughly two dozen cooperating defendants who pleaded guilty, some more than three years ago, being sentenced this month. More than a dozen defendants, including the mastermind, former construction company boss Leon Benzer, are to be sentenced later this year. Benzer pleaded guilty in January without a cooperation agreement.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro on Monday also fined Quintero $1,000.
Quintero testified for the government last month in the trial of attorney Keith Gregory and three other defendants, who were convicted of conspiracy and wire fraud charges in the scheme federal prosecutors alleged was carried out between 2003 and 2009. The goal of the scheme was to obtain lucrative construction defect contracts for Benzer from the HOAs.
Lead Justice Department prosecutor Charles La Bella praised Quintero’s cooperation in the case, and Quintero apologized in court for her actions.
“I feel very badly that I had anything to do with these people,” she told Navarro. “I feel very ashamed about that.”
The long-running HOA investigation, spearheaded by the Justice Department’s fraud section in Washington, is considered the largest public corruption case federal authorities have brought here. A total of 42 people have been convicted
Quintero testified that she was ordered to destroy her notary book as the federal investigation became public.
She acknowledged in her plea agreement that she notarized loan documents for straw buyers without them physically appearing before her, as required by her Nevada notary license.
Benzer used straw buyers to help him gain control of the HOAs, prosecutors alleged.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter @JGermanRJ.
