Crime & Safety

Former Manassas Real Estate Agent Wanted By FBI

FBI agents say Rosita Vilchez targeted "unsophisticated" borrowers who couldn't read English. Many later loss their homes to foreclosure.

A former Manassas real estate agent is wanted by FBI agents who say she committed several crimes that led to borrowers losing their homes to foreclosure and banks losing tens of millions of dollars. 

Rosita Vilchez, also known as Rosita De Los Milagros Pino Ponce, Rosi Vilchez and Rosi Pino, is wanted on charges of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and operating a continuing financial crimes enterprise, agents from the FBI's Washington Field Office said on Thursday. 

Vilchez is a Peruvian-born U.S. citizen who lived in Manassas but is believed to have moved her family back to Peru in 2010. From there, she continued to offer real estate services here in the U.S. up until this year, agents said. 

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From 2002 through 2007, Vilchez owned and operated a residential real estate agency named Vilchez & Associates with a main office in Manassas. 

Agents said the suspect was also the partial owner of a branch of Mount Vernon Capital Corporation, a Manassas loan brokerage business, that offered her real estate clients loans to close the real estate transactions. 

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Between 2005 and 2007 the suspect and her conspirators earned $7.2 million in gross receipts by allegedly targeting, "unsophisticated" borrowers who couldn't read English loan documents they were asked to sign. 

Agents say those in the criminal operation submitted false information to financial institutions in support of residential real estate mortgage applications, making it possible for the borrowers to qualify for loans they could not really afford.  

She was indicted by the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, on Sept.  6, 2012.  

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $6,000, or up to 15,000 Peruvian soles, for information leading directly to the location and arrest of Rosita Vilchez. 

She as described as Hispanic with black hair and brown eyes. She is known to wear glasses and speaks Spanish fluently, agents said. 

Information about this case should be given to the FBI or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.  Additional information regarding Rosita Vilchez, including a poster with her picture, is available here on the FBI’s website 


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