Nipomo woman sentenced for defrauding elderly man in reverse mortgage scam

A Nipomo woman who scammed an elderly man out of over $100,000 will serve a year in prison.

San Luis Obispo District Attorney Dan Dow announced that Araceli Cortes, 38, was sentenced to serve one year in the San Luis Obispo County Jail and four years of probation for defrauding a 74-year-old victim out of $117,000 as part of a reverse mortgage scam.

The 74-year-old man was a backer of Cortes Multi-Services run by Araceli Cortes in Nipomo.

In August 2012, Cortes encouraged the victim to take out a reverse mortgage on his residence. The victim then gave a $117,000 loan to Cortes on the condition that she use the funds for business development.

Cortes used the funds for personal expenditures and never made a payment on the loan.

The fraud was not discovered until 2016.

Cortes pled no-contest to the charges and was convicted of one count of felony grand theft and a corresponding enhancement for stealing an amount more than $100,000.

Cortes is required to pay full restitution to the victim for the money lost.