Realtors behaving badly - Fremont man sentenced to a year in jail for real estate fraud

Fremont man sentenced to a year in jail for real estate fraud

A Fremont man who pled guilty to charges alleging elder financial abuse and grand theft last month surrendered himself at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on April 1, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office reported.

Real estate agent Jeremiah Bishop, who was 74 at the time of his arrest in April 2015, was also ordered to pay $422,522.38 in restitution to 14 victims on March 25 in Hayward. Bishop pled guilty before trial, Deputy District Attorney David Lim said.

Fremont Police Department said Bishop advertised himself to potential victims as a commercial real estate investor with a partner starting in 2006. However, the partner did not exist and the properties Bishop sought investors for were not actually for sale, police said.

One of Bishop's victims, Union City resident Richard Aug, said he is disappointed in the outcome of the sentencing and believes Bishop was "not as remorseful as he should be."

Also, due to his age, health and other factors, Bishop could end up serving less than six months in jail.

"That's horrible, that's deplorable," Aug said.

During the course of nearly 40 years, Aug and his children made six property transactions -- buying and selling -- with Bishop. He became so trusted and treated as a family member that Aug's children called him "Uncle Jerry."

However, the relationship was shattered a couple years ago when a $25,000 investment did not yield a return in nearly a year.

Another victim, Alameda resident Frances Lai, said she and the other victims walked out of the sentencing court sad due to the lack of additional jail time for Bishop, under what she described as a "generous plea bargain."

"By using his ruthless operation of a Ponzi scheme, he has heartlessly robbed people, including elders, of their hard-earned savings, causing them undue financial and mental stress, and most of all, exploited his own close friends, clients and colleagues and betraying their trust in him. I don't know how he can live with his own conscience," Lai said in an email, recalling what she said at the sentencing during the victims' chance to speak.

Lai said she first met Bishop when she joined Century 21 Mission-Bishop real estate company, 39180 Liberty St., as a rookie Realtor in 2012.

"He was my trainer and mentor," she said.

After not making a single sale in more than a year, Lai left the company in 2013. Shortly afterward, Bishop contacted Lai about high-return investments in which she ended up losing $22,500 in a year's time.

"I started to suspect it was a scam, but I didn't know where to turn to, as I had never experienced something like this before," Lai said. "I couldn't sleep for months, and was suffering from intense distress and anguish besides the financial crunch due to his non-payment of the loans."

Source: San Jose Mercury News, Julian J. Ramos
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_29771297