 White Plains, NY - The Westchester County District Attorney's office announced that Rafael Pantoja, 49, of Hartsdale, New York plead guilty to one count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, and one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree.
The defendant entered the pleas of guilty during a trial before Westchester County Court Judge James Hubert.
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.
In entering his guilty pleas 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.
He faces a sentence of four and one half to nine years to twelve and one half to twenty five years in prison.
He will be sentenced on March 14th, 2008.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Conway, of the Public Integrity Bureau, prosecuted the case.
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