Chino Man Pleads Guilty to Identity Theft in Real Estate Fraud Scheme

VENTURA, Calif. – District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced today that Jonathan Martinez (DOB 03/08/88), of Chino, California, pled guilty on May 8, 2025, to one felony count of unauthorized use of personal identifying information of another.

In April 2021, a Thousand Oaks family lost their home in foreclosure. Shortly after the foreclosure sale was completed, the family began receiving multiple solicitations by phone and mail from law firms offering their services in a potential wrongful foreclosure action. One of these law firms was Affinity Law Group (Affinity) which Martinez worked for. In June 2021, Affinity advised the victims there would be surplus funds owed to them because their former property’s sale price exceeded the total amount of liens on title at the foreclosure sale.

An investigation conducted by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, Thousand Oaks Police Department (TOPD) Forgery/Fraud Unit, determined that on February 3, 2022, Martinez intercepted a check in the amount of $84,110 in surplus funds made payable to the victims. Once Martinez obtained the check, he forged the victims’ signatures and endorsements on the check and deposited the funds into his personal account at Chase Bank. Immediately after Martinez diverted the victims’ funds into his account, he spent the money on personal expenses.

From June 2021 through April 2022, the victims contacted Martinez on numerous occasions requesting an update on their surplus funds and the status of a supposed civil filing by Affinity. Martinez either failed to respond to the victims’ messages, or when he did reply, made excuses for the delay in the victims’ receipt of the money. On April 11, 2022, the victims learned a check in the amount of $84,110 made payable to them was issued on January 6, 2022; and their signatures had been forged with an endorsement stating, “Pay to the order of: Jonathan Martinez.” On April 12, 2022, the victims filed a crime report.

In June 2022, the victims were contacted by Chase Bank who informed them that during an internal bank investigation, the check representing their surplus funds was fraudulently deposited into the defendant’s account. Further, Chase informed the victims the bank would issue them an $84,110 check to make them whole. Chase then took action to recover the funds Martinez stole. Chase has recovered approximately $30,000, resulting in a total amount of $50,164 currently owed to Chase by Martinez in victim restitution.

This case was prosecuted by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Real Estate Fraud Unit (REFU) due to the successful investigation by the Thousand Oaks Police Department. Senior Deputy District Attorney Dominic Kardum, a member of the REFU, is assigned to the case.

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced on June 6, 2025, at 9:00 am in courtroom 12 of the Ventura County Superior Court. He faces up to four years, four months in jail.