by the El Reportero staff and news services
Supervisor David Campos talks to fraud victims. (photo by Marvin Ramirez)
Several people who where victimized in real estate cases by their supposedly savior when they were about to lose their house in foreclosure, met with San Francisco’s Mission District 9 Supervisor David Campos.
In a press conference held on June 6, Campos promised he would lead an more thoroughly investigation in the fraud case where the alleged perpetrator pocketed more than $1 million.
The investigation has since rounded up 27 families who claim they were bilked by Edwin Parada, 30, for more than $2 million. And Supervisor Campos, says there are 15 more families that may have been affected but have not yet come forward.
“This is a very smooth,besophisticated operator,” Campos said before an event at his office to celebrate the pending trial with some of the alleged victim families Friday afternoon. “He’s preying on the undocumented and Spanish-speaking population, who may not know the rules and protections that exist here. There’s probably more families that have been affected but haven’t come forward because of shame. You feel like you’ve been duped.”
According to news reports, Campos originally met four families complaining about Parada at a meeting on foreclosures sponsored by the non-profit Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) while he was serving as a police commissioner.
Campos said he called Police Chief Heather Fong to assign an investigator to the case, and, together with MEDA, did outreach to find more victims. The DA added 16 more criminal counts, and the victims are pushing for a speedy trial, he says.
Carmen Ruíz, a 57-year-old grandmother was at the June 6 meeting. She fell behind on her house payments after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Ruíz says she handed over the title to her home to Parada and made payments to the man who was a pastor in a local church. Police estimated Parada may have taken $165,000 from Ruiz.
Parada, who first stood in court in July 2008 to face felony charges, was first exposed in a Breaking News article, “He’s No Angel” by Karina Ioffee.
