Community Corner

Corona del Mar Man Sentenced in Real Estate Fraud Case

Michael Bell received three years of informal probation.

A Corona del Mar man was sentenced Friday for his guilty plea to a misdemeanor real estate fraud charge.

Michael John Bell, 33, was sentenced to three years of informal probation and ordered to pay restitution for his Dec. 13 guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge ofconspiracy to defraud another of property. His attorney, Correen Ferrentino, said Bell has accepted full responsibility for his crimes.

“He has complied with everything asked of him,” Ferrentino told City News Service. “He’s made every effort to rectify the situation.” Ferrentino said she did not know how much restitution Bell was ordered to pay.

Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Co-defendants James Merritt Eaton, 61, and his son Brian Chandler Eaton, 29, both of Laguna Beach, also pleaded guilty Dec. 16 to the same charge and were both sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years of informal probation.

Last year, the three men were charged with felony counts of conspiracy to
 defraud another of property, 17 felony counts of grand theft by false pretense, two felony counts of identity theft, and two felony counts of false
 impersonation, according to Deputy District Attorney George McFetridge. Those original charges were dismissed in December.

Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

James Eaton owned and operated Landmark Equities Group in Irvine from June 2005 to August 2007. Brian Eaton was the company's president and Bell was an executive. The firm worked with collapsed subprime mortgage firm Quick Loan Funding. The three were accused of inflating appraisals to make the properties more appealing to lenders, McFetridge said last year. They were also accused of obtaining computer passwords and accessing legitimate appraisals to remove negative comments about the properties.

The three also faced sentencing enhancement allegations for white-collar crime in excess of $100,000 and property damage of more than $50,000, but those allegations were also dismissed. They could have faced up to 18 years in prison had they been convicted on all charges.

—City News Service contributed to this report.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here