Michael Angelo Munoz, a former real estate agent with Crisp & Cole Real Estate, was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme between 2004 and 2007. Munoz pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and agreed to forfeit $1.3 million in profits from the criminal scheme. Prosecutors accused Munoz of acting as a "straw buyer" and purchasing homes using falsified loan applications, costing lenders $30 million when many properties later went into foreclosure. Munoz was the seventh defendant sentenced in the case involving Crisp & Cole Real Estate's mortgage fraud.

1. Real estate agent gets two years in prison
5.6.14
BY JOHN COX Californian staff writer jcox@bakersfield.com
Former Crisp & Cole Real Estate agent Michael Angelo Munoz was sentenced Monday to two years in
prison for his role in the infamous mortgage fraud case.
Munoz pleaded guilty in November to two counts of mail fraud and agreed to forfeit $1.3 million as a
“reasonable reflection” of his financial gains under the criminal scheme, which federal prosecutors say
took place between 2004 and 2007.
He was indicted Jan. 13, 2011, on one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud, five
counts of mail fraud, one count of bank fraud and aiding and abetting, and one count of conspiracy to
launder money.
Prosecutors accused Munoz of being one of several “straw buyers” in whose names Crisp & Cole
purchased homes using falsified loan applications. Many such properties later went into foreclosure,
costing lenders some $30 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Munoz was the seventh Crisp & Cole defendant to be sentenced in the case. Another eight defendants
await sentencing. The last of them, former operations manager Julie Dianne Farmer, is scheduled to learn
her fate July 14.