Several Southwest County residents and businesses have been added as targets of a lawsuit initially filed last week against Orange-based Jovane Investments, according to court records.

Filed in Riverside County Superior Court last Friday on behalf of an anonymous Temecula woman, the suit alleges that Jovane and related companies pulled equity out of homes in and around Murrieta and left a network of unwitting investors owing as much as $1.2 billion in mortgage obligations and credit-card debt.

The plaintiff's attorney Richard Ackerman amended the initial filing Thursday to include Stonewood Consulting, Inc., a Murrieta-based mortgage brokerage; its president, Hendrix Montecastro; and his mother, Helen Montecastro.

Also named as defendants are James Duncan, a Jovane officer; his mother, Linda Brooks; Oetting Enterprises, of Palm Desert; Chris Oetting, a company officer; notaries Crystal Fingers and Jean Levitt; a Las Vegas-based company called Pacific Wealth Management; Maurice McLeod, one of its officers, and four mortgage lenders that have begun foreclosure proceedings on houses owned by the investors.

Hendrix Montecastro didn't return a call seeking comment. Helen Montecastro, Brooks, Levitt and McLeod couldn't be reached for comment. Reached on her cell phone, Fingers declined to comment. Duncan didn't return a call seeking comment Thursday, but declined to be interviewed earlier this week.

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.