Bee reporters answer questions about area crime news, trends and other issues.
QUESTION: What happened to the loan scandal involving Christopher Warren and company?
Submitted by: Alice, Sacramento
ANSWER: Christopher Jared Warren pleaded guilty in federal court in January to identity theft and wire fraud related to cheating lenders out of $19 million.
According to federal court online records, his sentencing, initially scheduled for April 24, is now set for Aug. 7.
Warren was one of three men and a woman who skipped the country while under investigation as part of a federal probe of Roseville-based Loomis Wealth Solutions, which authorities say was a front for a Ponzi scheme that spread over five states and took investors for at least $100 million.
He fled the country in February 2009, but later flew to Toronto and was arrested by U.S. border officers near near Buffalo, N.Y.
As part of his guilty plea, Warren confessed to bilking mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker out of more than $7 million, and to fraudulent loans totaling more than $12 million in connection with his employment with the now-defunct Loomis Wealth Solutions in 2007 and 2008, according to a story in The Bee.
He also admitted to aggravated identify theft by fraudulently obtaining passports in the names of real people who were unaware of what he was doing. He acknowledged that he used the stolen identities to purchase gold and travel abroad.
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