News reports and court records show that three women, mother and two daughters from Leawood, Kansas have been sentenced to probation for helping illegal immigrants commit $7.7 million in mortgage fraud through the use of stolen Social Security numbers, some from deceased people. The women were not given prison time, partly because only four of the 102 mortgages received by the undocumented workers have gone into default.

Doris Toledo, 68, and her daughter, Sylvia Toledo, 43, co-owners of now defunct Grupo Toledo Real Estate each received a sentence of 18 months’ probation, eight months suspended prison time and a $25,000 fine. They had previously entered no-contest pleas to one count of false writing. Sonia Toledo, 39, a former loan officer in an Olathe mortgage company, pleaded guilty to the same charge earlier and received the same sentence.

     

     Doris Toledo             Sonia Toledo              Sylvia Toledo

The three were also ordered to surrender their real estate licenses and perform 30 hours of community service.

Doris and Sylvia Toledo co-owned the now-closed Grupo Toledo real estate company in Westwood. Sonia Toledo is a former loan officer for an Olathe mortgage company.

Click here for the indictments (1.1mb)

Attorneys said they believed that either documented relatives of the mortgage holders have taken over the loans or the undocumented immigrants themselves are making their payments while trying to gain legal status or fighting deportation.

“There is an argument to be made that they’re hardworking, honest folks who simply want to buy a house and raise a family,” Johnson County Assistant District Attorney Patrick Carney said after the hearing, “but there is a right way to do that.”