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 White Plains, NY - The Westchester County District Attorney's office announced that Rafael Pantoja, 49, of Hartsdale, New York was sentenced to four and one half to nine years in state prison on his guilty plea to one count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, and one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree.
Between July 21st, 2004 and August 20th, 2004, the defendant, a disbarred lawyer, was engaged in negotiations which lead to the sale of his house located on Richard Terrace in Hartsdale.
During this same time period he negotiated to purchase a property on Lake Street for 1.8 million dollars.
The defendant admitted that he stole over one million dollars from PHH Mortgage by providing his father’s social security number and listing his employment as an attorney. He then used the mortgage proceeds to purchase the Lake Street House.
In January of 2005, the defendant obtained a second mortgage from Countrywide Mortgage in the amount of $600,000 which was secured by the same Lake Street property and which the defendant obtained by the use of the same false representations.
Pantoja has since defaulted on both loans.
In addition to his sentence, Pantoja was ordered by the court to pay restitution in the amount of $1,186,250 to PHH Mortgage, $600,000 to Countywide Mortgage and $356,000 to First American Title Company.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Conway, Deputy Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, prosecuted the case.
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