Former Westlake prosecutor used fraud to buy home

Julie Marie Sergojan, a 50year-old former Westlake Village resident who once was a Los Angeles County prosecutor, pleaded guilty to six felony charges including multiple counts of grand theft, identity theft and forgerythe Ventura County district attorney's office said.

Beginning in 2002, Sergojan concocted a series of frauds that allowed her to purchase a $500,000 home in Westlake Village.

While serving as a deputy district attorney, Sergojan stole the identities of two individuals. She took a total of $43,000 from one person's bank account, then laundered the money through an account she opened in the other individual's name, the district attorney said last week.

Sergojan was able to obtain a $450,000 mortgage for the Westlake Village residence by forging pay stubs and other documents that dramatically misrepresented her income and credit worthiness, according to officials.

She quickly defaulted on her loan, but in 2003, she was able to clear $10,000 in fake checks through her bank in order to negotiate her delinquent mortgage with her lender.

The former prosecutor was arrested and pleaded guilty in January 2003 to the two counts of identity theft. She was given probation and forced to forfeit her state bar license and pay restitution.

In 2004, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department discovered that Sergojan had paid the restitution costs with a fraudulent loan. She was able to secure a $200,000 loan by pledging valuable land that her estranged husband owned in Sonoma County. The loan process was conducted via Internet, e-mail, fax and mail.

"Her husband, an identity theft victim in one of the cases, did a check on the title of his property and noticed that two fraudulent deeds had been recorded against the property," said Marc Leventhal, a deputy district attorney for Ventura County.

"The Sonoma County sheriff determined that the suspect lived in Ventura County and shipped the case down to us."

The investigation of Sergojan was conducted by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department with assistance from the Southern California High Tech Task Force.

Sergojan is remains free on $500,000 bail pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Nov. 9. She faces a maximum of eight years and four months in prison.