'Charming couple' leaves a path of financial destruction

After doing business with a Thousand Oaks couple who will likely be sentenced to decades in prison, a once financially comfortable local widow now depends on her Social Security check to survive.

The Thousand Oaks widow, in her 70s, who doesn't want to be identified, met Terrance George Tucker, 64, and Sonya Tucker, 64, at church.

In 2003, the couple known as Terry and Cheri Tucker befriended her and promised to "take care of her," she said.

The Tuckers, who wore sparkling jewelry and dressed in the same colors, operated Tucker Mortgage in Thousand Oaks and San Diego. They also sold real estate.

"The last time I spoke with the Tuckers I told them they 'took care of me' all the way to the poor house," she said.

Federal prosecutors now say the Tuckers were involved in fraudulent loan applications. They are to be sentenced on two counts of bank fraud on July 13, with each count carrying a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison, Assistant U.S. District Attorney Mark Aveis said.

The widow knew them as fellow Mormons who came to church, talked about their love for God and how they enjoyed helping people.

"First I invested in a modest way the little money I did have from my (deceased) husband's insurance money," she recalled.

The widow believed she was getting 14 percent interest on that money. Then, with the help of the Tuckers, she took out some of the equity from the home she owned for 31 years to make necessary repairs, she said.

The Tuckers repeatedly approached her about helping her invest that equity so she could earn interest on it.

Without reading carefully, she signed the papers her "friends" gave her, hoping it meant more money in her future so she could live her life out without financial concerns, she said. Now, after losing her financial security, she wishes she'd talked to her family and friends about what she was doing.

She believes those papers were fraudulently overstating her income so the Tuckers, using her identity, could take out a variety of loans, which they controlled. At the time, she just trusted them, she said.

In 2007 the widow told them, "No more." She wanted the money she'd "invested" when it was due, but, she said, the Tuckers told her the money wasn't there. When she reacted emotionally they told her, "That's just business."

After more than a year of investigation by the Ventura County district attorney's office with help from the Secret Service and federal prosecutors, the two were arrested in Stillwater, Okla., living in a motor home on a relative's property.

Terry Tucker's attorney, federal public defender Dean Gits, and "Cheri" Sonya Tucker's attorney, Gregory Nicolaysen, didn't immediately return calls for comment.

According to Ventura County Senior Dep. District Attorney Miles Weiss, this widow wasn't alone. The Tuckers were found guilty of operating a real estate financial scheme that used fraudulent documents to hurt many others.

Weiss explained the scheme. First, the couple sought out private real estate investments from trusting and naive church members, who were mostly elderly. Those investors got no firm documentation on what they were actually investing in, but were promised 12 percent or more interest.

Second, they took that investment money and used it to secure about $80 million in conventional mortgage loans for about 400 unsuspecting homebuyers by falsely stating the down payments came from the assets of the borrowers, when they actually came from the private investors. The couple told clients, who were mostly friends or members of their church, they could buy a home by getting 100 percent financing through a combination of conventional loans and shortterm, high-interest loans called hard money loans.

The Tuckers also filled out the applications with false information about jobs and incomes. The loans came from various banks, including Washington Mutual and Downey Savings.

"Virtually all of those who got the loans lost their homes or are in foreclosure," Weiss said.

When the homeowners' hard money loans came due, they would be advised to pay them off with a home equity line of credit obtained by the Tuckers. Instead of paying off the loans for the homeowners like the widow, the Tuckers would reinvest that money somewhere else into new hard money loans.

When the scheme crumbled, the lives of those who trusted the Tuckers were left in shambles.

The widow has now moved out of her home and is living with family members as she tries to scrape by. She said she has no hope of ever getting her money back, but still prays for a miracle to help her find comfort once again in the time she has left.