Waterford swindler must pay victims $120,000

Eleven families will get their home deeds back, according to a restitution deal signed Thursday by convicted swindlers who prayed with some victims before duping them.

Lonni Ashlock, 57, of Waterford also agreed to pay a total of $120,000 to 10 others, most of whom were evicted from their homes before they were sold to third parties.

Ashlock and his partner, Ronald Buhler, 27, of Riverbank pleaded no contest in September to six fraud and grand theft felonies. They were sentenced to one year in jail but have been free since except for wearing ankle bracelet monitors.

Their victims included an 86-year-old woman with dementia, a schizophrenic, a woman with brain lesions and several other disabled people, according to court documents and testimony.

"What (Ashlock) did was outrageous," said Melissa Hakata, who said she did not realize she had sold her Oakdale home, worth about $180,000, for $14,563 until a year later. She and her husband, who had medical problems, fell hard for Ash-lock's Christian lines, she said.

"It was, 'Let's all hold hands and pray,' " said Hakata, whose home had been in her family since 1973. "But for them, it was, 'We'll prey on you while we pray.' It was just slimy."

Ashlock said Thursday through an associate that eventually he will tell his side of the story but declined to comment immediately. His civil attorney, Neil Callahan, said, "I think all sides are glad it's resolved."

Buhler's criminal attorney, Bob Chase, said, "We worked hard and long, and I think the restitution order is reasonable."

At least two victims have died since losing their homes in the scheme, and the story has tentacles reaching into at least three other notable criminal cases.

142 properties

The Bee in July 2005 chronicled several lawsuits against Ashlock, Buhler and their many corporations and eventually tracked 142 properties the men had acquired.

They were arrested five months later, along with Sue Walls of Ceres, a former notary public who recorded some transactions. She pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor count of negligent bookkeeping and escaped jail time and restitution.

Buhler continued acquiring foreclosure-threatened homes, picking up at least eight properties in three counties in the year after his arrest, according to Bee reviews.

Prosecutors limited their investigation to victims with the strongest cases, they have said, and did not push outside Stanislaus County except for a Stockton family represented by a Modesto civil attorney.

Buhler usually took the role of frontman, contacting owners facing foreclosure for a variety of reasons, often related to financial difficulty stemming from health problems. He seemed to target owners unaware that their homes had built substantial equity over the years, according to testimony at the men's fall 2006 preliminary hearing.

The men offered to keep people from losing their homes. Many signed over deeds for pennies on the dollar, some falling for promises that their homes would be returned in time, others not realizing they had lost title. Most then paid rent to Ashlock; some, he evicted, while others never left.

For example, one family accepted $4,500 for their house, which was valued at $138,750, and paid Ashlock $38,000 in rent over many years.

Willa Obligacion of Ceres said her husband had died shortly before Buhler knocked on her door. Realizing she'd been fooled into deeding away their Ceres home about six months later, she hired a lawyer, continued paying rent -- $24,000, in all -- and hunkered down.