El Paso victims of an alleged real estate fraud scheme connected to Sierra Title Company are continuing their fight to recoup more than $1.7 million they lost in the scam and are asking for other victims to come forward.
About a dozen of the victims met Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Ay Caramba Restaurant in Central El Paso to receive an update on their lawsuit from their attorney David Morales, who is representing 35 of the victims. The attorney has filed the lawsuit and a trial could be held next year.
El Paso attorney David Morales, who is representing 35 alleged victims of a real estate scam, provides an update to his clients about their lawsuit against Sierra Title Company on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, at Ay Caramba Restaurant, 1926 Montana Ave.
The victims were angry and frustrated about their situation, just wanting to get their money returned to them.
“This is organized crime,” said Joseph Monge Jr., who was a victim along with his parents. “Unfortunately, we’ve tried to fight it. My mother and my family have hired attorneys, spent their life savings trying to fight these people and these organizations. Just like everybody else here, we are trying to recoup our money and get justice too.”
The scam involved bogus real estate transactions and social media posts, promising to quickly sell and close on houses for sale in the El Paso area. The alleged scammers used at least two Sierra Title offices to conduct transactions.
The victims met with the alleged scammers at Sierra Title offices in El Paso and paid down payments for the houses, Morales said. The down payments ranged from $10,000 to $50,000, according to documents provided by Morales.
“They were asked to put down $15,000, $20,000, $30,000, some even put down $50,000 that they borrowed from family to get into these homes because everybody wants to be a homeowner,” Morales said. “But these individuals call them to the offices of Sierra Title, even though the two were not employees of Sierra Title, but because they (victims) went to Sierra Title, they thought that everything was legitimate.
“It’s like going to church and then the priest telling you this is a good deal. Of course, they aren’t going to think that Sierra Title would do anything like this to them.”
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Sierra Title is named as a defendant in the lawsuit because the scammers used the company’s office and reputation to conduct the alleged fraud, Morales said.
“Sierra Title is important here, because they let this whole thing happen under their roof and under the law, if you let somebody use your house for drug dealing or whatever, then you’re pretty much responsible for what’s going on in there,” Morales said.
Morales argued that Sierra Title leaders knew of the dealings that were happening in their offices.
“Sierra Title is claiming that, ‘Well, we didn’t know what was going on,’ but yet these people had keys to the offices,” Morales said. “They were in and out of Sierra Title, even during work days. People would see them coming in, and that people would come in and take the $20,000, $30,000. Yet, they claim that they didn’t know anything about it.”
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Sierra Title CEO denies involvement in scheme
Sierra Title CEO John King said in a statement that an employee was conducting the alleged fraudulent transactions without the company’s knowledge.
“It is our understanding that certain long-established customers requested, as a courtesy, that an employee of Sierra Title Company, Inc. allow them to sign documents on Sierra premises, and to act as a notary public for the signatures on certain of those transactions,” King said in the statement. “These acts were in violation of Sierra’s Best Practices Policies, and the employee in question resigned. Sierra regrets that any of its employees acted outside their scope of employment, but cannot comment further on active litigation.”
The legal battle has been going on for several years. Many of the victims were unable to find attorneys willing to take on their cases, so Morales took on the case and combined the victims into one lawsuit.
“No lawyer wanted to take their case,” Morales said. “Sierra Title is a pretty large company and they deal in a lot of real estate transactions and the like, and a lot of lawyers are into that type of stuff. So they weren’t eager to take their case. So they went for about a year without lawyers.”
Victims lost more than $1.7 million
The victims were promised the house deals would close within 30 days, but it never happened, Morales said. Some victims had even been allowed to move into the house, just to later be evicted, since the houses were never actually purchased.
“They assured me that all my transactions were going to be accurate and all my funds were going to be dispersed correctly,” said Jeffrey Rangel, one of the victims of the alleged fraud. “So I believed in them, but when I came to find out that it was a fraudulent scheme is when I actually tried to ask for my closing date because they wanted me to pay rent. I told them I wasn’t renting. I’m purchasing a property for my family and my kids to live.”
Diana Ramirez, left, and Jeffrey Rangel talk to news reporters on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, at Ay Caramba Restaurant, 1926 Montana Ave., about a lawsuit they filed with more than 30 other victims against Sierra Title Company over an alleged real estate fraud scheme.
Sierra Title employees told Rangel they had no records of him making a down payment. He and his family were later evicted from the house they thought they owned.
Other victims fell victim to the scam when they attempted to sell their homes.
“We were selling our home and we thought it was legit,” said Diana Ramirez, who was selling her home to help pay for her cancer treatments. “They gave us a security deposit at Sierra Title. And with that signature that my mom gave on the receiver’s check, they changed the title to the potential buyer’s name. They just took it off like that. They never closed.”
She added, “I’m fighting for my life every day. Fighting to get up every day and still fighting for my home. I’m at a home that isn’t mine because it’s under somebody else’s name. It’s stressful not knowing if they’re just going to show up and ask us to leave because it’s not our home. It’s a struggle that we go through every day.”
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Attorney asking for more victims to come forward
Law enforcement agencies are investigating the allegations and have found that more than 60 people were scammed in the scheme, Morales said. Law enforcement does not comment on ongoing investigations. He said he believes there may be more than 150 victims, bringing the total money stolen up to well over $2 million.
Morales and the known victims are asking for anyone who may have been scammed to reach out to join the lawsuit.
El Paso attorney David Morales, who is representing 35 alleged victims of a real estate scam, provides an update to his clients about their lawsuit against Sierra Title Company on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, at Ay Caramba Restaurant, 1926 Montana Ave.
“That’s why it’s important to give this case some publicity because individuals that have lost hope of recouping their money, they just walked away and sometimes they feel like they were duped and they were responsible for it,” Morales said. “But the fact of the matter is that I don’t think that this scam would’ve worked if Sierra Title had not lent their offices to these people. That’s what gave them the legitimacy.”
Anyone who may be a victim is asked to call Morales’ office at 915-999-3404.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on X/Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso victims discuss real estate fraud lawsuit against Sierra Title