SANTA ANA, California – An Orange County man pleaded guilty this morning to federal charges relating to his operation of a fraud scheme that took $2.2 million from distressed homeowners through false promises that he could help them avoid foreclosure by obtaining modifications to their mortgages.

Kevin Frank Rasher, 45, who has been in custody since his arrest at his Coto de Caza residence one year ago, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of mail fraud.

Rasher pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Josephine L. Staton, who is scheduled to sentence the defendant on September 29. Rasher faces a statutory maximum sentence of 240 years in federal prison.

In a plea agreement filed in federal court, Rasher admitted that, between 2011 and March 2016, he falsely told distressed homeowners that he was an employee of HUD and/or an attorney, and that the homeowners had been approved for a reduced mortgage payment or interest rate. Rasher then instructed the homeowners to mail their mortgage payments to one of his businesses, claiming that he would forward the money to the homeowners’ mortgage lenders. Instead of forwarding the money to the mortgage lenders, Rasher deposited the money into his bank accounts and used it for his own personal expenses.

Rasher admitted that he fraudulently obtained approximately $2.24 million from more than 500 victims...