Couple plead guilty to posing as property owners to sell San Diego homes

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) - A husband and wife who posed as local property owners and fraudulently sold two San Diego homes pleaded guilty today to federal bank fraud charges.  

Victor Hugo Villalobos Almazan and Nayeli Noemi Montoya Rodriguez, both of Mexico, sold homes at 3873 36th St. and 555 Hollister Str. that they did not own, then laundered around $1 million in proceeds from the illegal sales, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said the pair arranged sales entirely through email in order to avoid meeting buyers in person and provided buyers with forged property transfer documents bearing the actual property owners' signatures.   

They then placed the sale proceeds into bank accounts bearing similar names to those of the legitimate property owners, then transferred the proceeds to foreign countries, prosecutors said.