Press Release Date:
October 11, 2013
A Chatsworth man was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison after being convicted by a jury of trying on several occasions to file false documents claiming he owned a 32-unit Oxnard apartment building. Prosecutors say that in July 2011, 42-year-old Laureano Labasay filed the paperwork with the Ventura County Clerk-Recorder’s Office which fraudulently transferred title of the apartment building into his name. They say he had already posted false notices telling the tenants to send him the rent money instead of to the lawful owners of the complex. In December of 2011 Labasay was arrested, but while he was out on bail, he tried two more times to do the same thing. Ultimately the DA’s office got the judge to void the false documents and ordered title restored to the victims of the scam. A month ago, he was convicted at trial by a jury on several felony counts. In addition to the six years in prison, Labasay was ordered to pay $10,573 in victim restitution. He was also ordered to stay away from any and all of the victims in the case.