Several guilty verdicts in First Latino case

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 30, 2007 11:30 PM PST ∞

SAN DIEGO -- The man who founded First Latino -- a now-defunct Vista company that took about $1.2 million from investors and pledged to build homes, but never did -- was found guilty Tuesday of four of the five felony conspiracy charges he faced, including grand theft.

Rolando Montez, 51, showed no reaction as the list of guilty verdicts against him was read in a cramped San Diego courtroom. The Vista man also was convicted of conspiracy charges related to false pretenses, forgery and filing a false document.

Montez and three co-defendants were accused of duping North County investors and prospective Latino home buyers -- many of them members of local churches where First Latino pitched the plan -- with promises of large returns and affordable homes.

The same jury that convicted Montez also found two other principal players in the failed Vista-based company to be guilty of two of five conspiracy charges they faced, including conspiracy to commit grand theft.

Those two defendants, Franklin Ontiveros, 43, and Johnnie Mae Johnson, 58, were acquitted of the conspiracy charges related to forgery and filing a false document.

The jury acquitted a fourth defendant of four of five charges he faced. The panel found that Jacob Miller, 75, a notary, was guilty of conspiracy to file a false document for putting his official stamp on what turned out to be a forged document that transferred property to Montez from Montez's recently widowed sister-in-law.

First Latino offered participants a 20 percent return on any investment and a program wherein each investor could buy a home for an initial investment of $7,500.

During the six-week trial, jurors heard evidence that First Latino took in more than $1.2 million from investors and prospective home buyers, but never told the investors that the company did not have enough land or money to build all the houses it promised.

Land owned by Montez or First Latino would have accommodated a maximum of 15 houses, but company records showed another 57 people gave money to First Latino to obtain a home, the prosecution alleged.

No houses were built under the program.

After the verdicts were read, one juror said he felt the defendants had truly wanted to provide the houses for investors, and that they believed in the program they were pitching, but crossed the line in their efforts to keep the program going.

"That's the spirit I saw," juror Jose Cruz said. "They wanted to do something for these people, even if it meant breaking the law."

Cruz, 26, pointed to the failure of three defendants -- who were out pitching the program to new investors even after they learned they were under a criminal investigation -- to disclose news of that investigation to potential investors.

"They could have had the intent to get to their final promise, but they lied to do it, and that caused harm," Cruz said. "I still don't believe they intended to take the money and run. To some extent, I feel it is punishing people with noble intent."

Montez could face up to about 12 years in prison, if he is given the maximum punishment when he and the others are sentenced April 20.

It was not immediately clear after the verdict how much time co-defendants Ontiveros, Johnson and Miller may face.

The jury, which deliberated for more than six days, deadlocked on a conspiracy charge that Montez, Ontiveros and Johnson failed to file proper paperwork regarding plans to subdivide one of First Latino properties to build more houses.

The four defendants at the trial were among five people indicted in December 2004 on five felony conspiracy charges, each in connection with the home buying and investment programs.

Last year, a fifth indicted suspect, Terry Samples, 47, the former chief operating officer of First Latino, pleaded guilty to five felony charges and was sentenced to three years and four months in state prison.

The district attorney's office and two state agencies launched investigations into First Latino in August 2004 after the North County Times reported complaints made by former company officials and investors.

Some of the First Latino investors have been repaid, but others are still waiting.

Filiberto Urias of Gardena, who said he and his mother and sister lost more than $140,000 with First Latino, said he had mixed feelings about the verdict. Although he was happy about the trial's outcome, Urias said, he believed prosecutors could have charged more people with crimes for their involvement with First Latino.

"I'm glad that they were all found guilty," Urias said of Montez, Ontiveros, Johnson and Miller.

He holds out hope of eventually getting back the money and to find out what the next step is for all the investors to recover their losses. "Not just us, but the whole entire community got screwed on this," Urias said.

He said the money that he and his family lost in the First Latino investment forced them to postpone plans to buy a house and put a strain on family relationships. Others who had less money and couldn't afford to lose it were affected even more, Urias said.

A financial agreement was reached last year that may provide money to pay restitution to First Latino's investors. The agreement allows a developer to proceed with plans to build eight single-family homes on Alta Vista Drive property formerly owned by First Latino, sell them and use the proceeds to pay off a $5 million construction loan and provide more than $1 million in restitution to First Latino investors.

First Latino sold the Alta Vista Drive property in May 2004 to Allen & Associates R.E.I. LLC for $1.3 million, but Allen & Associates still owed First Latino $600,000 of that amount through a promissory note. After the First Latino officials were indicted, the district attorney's office placed a lien on the promissory note and other First Latino property so they could be used to provide restitution.

-- Staff writer Scott Marshall contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.