A bond you don't want..
Jenifer
Ex-fugitive convicted in $2.8 million identity theft
Gene Anthony Franklin of Tustin even duped a convicted murderer so he could post bail, prosecutors said.
By RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
The Orange County Register
A Tustin man who had tried to flee to Mexico was convicted today of committing a $2.8 million fraud by stealing the identities of more than a dozen people who hoped to invest in real estate.
Gene Anthony Franklin Jr., 34, held himself out as a legitimate real estate investor to secure his victims' personal information, then used the data to buy a home, obtain credit cards and pay his bills, said Deputy District Attorney Yvette Patko. He also illegally transferred properties from a fellow jail inmate to post his own criminal bail and flee the country, prosecutors said.
"He basically lived his life using identity theft,'' Patko said.
In one case, Franklin got personal information from a victim in October 2006 while discussing real estate investment, prosecutors said. The victim gave Franklin his personal information, but then later decided against the venture.
Franklin used the victim's information to purchase a $685,000 Huntington Beach home – without the victim's knowledge. Franklin also put the telephone line and the water bill in the victim's name.
The victim later discovered the fraud and confronted Franklin, who lied and told the victim that his name would be removed from the home's deed.
Franklin also scammed a convicted murderer.
While in custody for this case, he was rooming in jail with Marvin Vernis Smith, who was convicted of killing his wife. Franklin became friends with Smith, and learned that Smith had transferred one of his properties to his daughter so she could pay for legal fees, prosecutors said.
Franklin forged property transfer documents that showed that his ex-girlfriend – Iris Orozco – owned three of Smith's properties, valued at almost $2 million, around October 2007, prosecutors said.
Using one of the properties as collateral, Franklin posted his $1 million and fled to Mexico with Orozco, prosecutors said. He was caught in March 2008, and brought back to Orange County.
His trial, which was held in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge John Conley, started March 4. The jury of nine women and three men began deliberating Thursday before coming back with their decision.
The panel found that Franklin was guilty of 46 felony counts including several identity theft-related charges as well as grand theft, conspiracy and forgery counts.
He will be sentenced on June 19. Prosecutors say he faces a maximum of 73 years in prison.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fran ... formation#
