2 men arrested in alleged mortgage payment scam

By Steve Kanigher

Friday, March 4, 2011 | 3:50 p.m.

Two men were arrested Friday in connection with an alleged scheme designed to steal mortgage payments from Southern Nevada homeowners, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said.

Joseph Yorkus, who was out on bail from a February arrest in connection with a similar scheme, and James Bartczak, who was still in custody, were booked on new charges in connection with an investigation by the attorney general's Mortgage Fraud Task Force.

Both men had been arrested in February for setting up the business “Great Western Business Services,” which is alleged to have embezzled homeowners’ mortgage payments by sending letters to homeowners falsely stating that their loans had been transferred from Bank of America to Great Western. The letters instructed the homeowners to make their mortgage payments to Great Western rather than to Bank of America, which actually owned the loan.

Numerous victims missed mortgage payments that could potentially result in foreclosure, despite the fact they had actually made their payments -- albeit to the alleged scammers instead of their true loan servicer.

The latest arrest is based on new allegations that, in addition to fraudulently operating Great Western Business Services, Yorkus and Bartczak also ran three other fraudulent companies, BAC Collections, Fresh Start Consultants and Learn Your Rights, for the purpose of convincing homeowners to pay their mortgage through those businesses.

Yorkus and Bartczak allegedly misrepresented that the companies would assist homeowners in obtaining credit repair and loan modifications, as well as principal reductions. Instead of obtaining the loan modifications, the homeowners' payments were allegedly diverted by Yorkus and Bartczak for their own personal use.

One of the alleged victims is a senior citizen who lost more than $10,000, officials said.