Los Gatos Weekly-Times

D.A. says man swindled local woman out of home

By Jeff Kearns

A San Jose man who allegedly conned a 73-year-old Los Gatos resident into signing away her house was arrested Sept. 29 and is being held in Santa Clara County jail on $500,000 bail. He was arraigned Sept. 30.

Mazen Mohammed "Mark" Kawadri, 40, has been charged with grand theft and elder fraud for tricking the woman, whom the district attorney's office declined to name, into signing a fraudulent life estate agreement.

According to the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Paul Colin, Kawadri went to the woman's house in August 1997, after he found out that the property was in "financial distress."

Kawadri was working at a San Jose real estate agency at the time. He introduced himself and talked his way into her confidence, Colin said, by telling her that he would take over payments on her $380,000 home if she would agree to sign the house over to him upon her death. The woman agreed, and Kawadri allegedly stopped paying her bills after one month.

Once he had the title, the DA's office says, Kawadri borrowed $30,000 against the house, money that remains unaccounted for. The house was sold this summer, and the victim is currently living in a convalescent home in San Jose.

Colin said that life estate transactions are legal and fairly common, but only if the homeowner is fully apprised of what's happening in the deal. If Kawadri's document had stated that it was a life estate, it would have been legal, he said, but it did not. The victim apparently did not understand what was happening in the situation.

"The document she signed gave him complete rights over the property. He could have forced her out at any time," Colin said.

The district attorney's office learned about the situation in October 1997, when real estate fraud investigator Robert Traskowski received a phone call from Avondale Federal Bank of Illinois after a risk analyst there noticed problems with the victim's loan.

At the same time, the victim's next-door neighbor, a real estate agent, and the victim's daughter called a lawyer after learning about the agreement. Kawadri deeded back the property in April after a settlement was reached, but the $30,000 was never returned.

Kawadri, whose charges include a "white-collar crime enhancement," could receive anything from probation to nine years in state prison. Colin says he plans to push for a prison sentence.

Anyone with more information on this case is asked to call Robert Traskowski at the district attorney's office at 792-2938.

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