Rohnert Park Man Charged With Fraud, Money Laundering

U.S. attorney Melinda Haag announced today that Raymond Foakes, 48, of Rohnert Park, has been sentenced serve nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution for his role in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Haag said in a statement that the defendant, who is the former President of the Hells Angels Sonoma Chapter, "pleaded guilty on October 25, 2011, to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering."

Foakes' plea agreement states that "from 2006 until early 2007, he was involved in a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans for parcels of real property located in Northern California, including for a property located at Laguna Road in Santa Rosa, California."

Haag said regarding consipiact, the Rohnert Park man submitted multiple false statements on mortgage loan applications and altered bank statements.

"For example, the applications falsely stated that he had been self-employed as owner of “Foakes Concrete” for approximately 10 years where he made approximately $24,000 per month, and the bank statements reflected inflated account balances and recurring deposits," the attorney's office said in a news statement. "Rather than occupy the property as a primary residence, as he stated on his applications he intended to do, he allowed it to be used as a marijuana grow house. Further, Foakes laundered the criminally-derived proceeds by engaging in financial transactions over $10,000.

According to news statements, "Foakes was one of several defendants indicted by a federal grand jury in the conspiracy on Sept. 1, 2011. He was charged with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to maintain drug involved premises."

Sentencing by Judge William Alsup also includes a three-year period of supervised release. He begins serving the sentence immediately.

Officals said that "the prosecution is the result of a multi-year investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Santa Rosa Resident Agency."