Seventy-six-year-old Ronald Nelson and his wife, 53-year-old Edith Nelson, both of Discovery Bay, entered the pleas to federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion last week.

Two San Francisco Bay area real estate agents, 49-year-old Cristeta Lagarejos and 68-year-old Nelda Asuncion, also pleaded guilty in the case.

Prosecutors say the defendants obtained loans for at least 20 properties – many of them care facilities – using fake buyers and false employment and earnings information between 2002 and 2007.

The Nelsons were barred from operating care facilities. But prosecutors said they used the straw buyers to skirt that restriction.

All four defendants are set to be sentenced on May 11.

Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/08/4248689/4-plead-guilty-in-norcal-mortgage.html