Published: Saturday, Jul. 11, 2009
Santa Maria hard money lender Mike Wilson arrested on fraud charges
He's set to be arraigned Monday on 147 felony counts of embezzlement, elder abuse and other offenses
Comments (0) | 
E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeHard money lender Mike L. Wilson, a Santa Maria mortgage business owner with many San Luis Obispo County clients and real estate investments, was arrested at his Santa Maria home Friday on 147 felony counts.
Wilson, 55, was in Santa Barbara County Jail without bail on charges including grant theft, forgery, elder abuse by embezzlement, and fraud in selling securities.
Among the 45 or so alleged victims named in the criminal complaint are Wilson’s parents, Don and Joey Wilson, and friends, such as John Roffoni Sr., who say they had known and trusted Wilson for many years.
Lead prosecuting attorney, Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy District Attorney Jerry Lulejian, would not comment on the exact amount of investors’ money Wilson is alleged to have taken. However, the total more than likely is in excess of $5 million, according to the complaint.
Wilson is expected to be arraigned Monday in the Santa Maria division of the Santa Barbara Superior Court, according to Jerry Lulejian, senior deputy district attorney in the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office.
If convicted on all counts, Wilson, 55, could get a maximum sentence of more than 50 years and could spend the rest of his life in prison.
The arrest followed months of investigation into Wilson and his Pacific Mortgage Company by the Lompoc division of the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office, headed by Lulejian and his chief investigator, Jennifer Glimp.
Assisting in the investigation were the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, the state Department of Corporations and the state Department of Real Estate, according to a news release issued by the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office.
Wilson’s arrest follows at least seven lawsuits filed against the hard money lender in Santa Barbara Superior Court since the end of March. Those suits mirror the criminal complaint, alleging losses of more than $5 million that were supposed to go toward commercial and residential investments in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties.
Most of those allegations include an alleged Ponzi scheme, in which Wilson is accused of taking money from investors, promising them that it would be invested in secured real estate, but instead using the money to pay off other investors as a way to keep the scheme going.
Wilson also allegedly forged real estate documents, failed to record assignments of deeds of trusts, promised investors they were more secured with real estate deeds than they actually were, failed to tell investors their loans were in default or had been paid off, and preyed on seniors for financial gain, according to the suits.
Some of his alleged victims said they are pleased with Wilson’s arrest. “I am glad he is in custody. My greatest fear has been that he would disappear and not be accountable to the many people he has so drastically hurt,” said Sandee Ogilvie of Santa Maria. “The important thing is that he is locked away where he cannot hurt more people,” she added.
Another allegedly scammed investor, Benny Barbour, said he felt good that Wilson was behind bars, but he also wanted his money back.
Ogilvie is suing Wilson in Santa Barbara County Superior Court for fraud in one of his alleged real estate schemes but was not named in the criminal complaint.
Wilson’s criminal defense attorney, Studio City-based Oren Rosenthal, declined to comment on Wilson’s arrest.
What you should know about comments on SanLuisObispo.com
SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.
Here are some rules of the road:
- Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
- Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
- Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
- Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and leave him a public message.
- Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
- Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
- Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
- Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About comments
Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.