Charges in Operation Surreal Estate

Rachel Dollar —  October 8, 2015 — 1 Comment

The Cameron County, Texas District Attorney’s Office dismantled a county-wide real estate scheme that defrauded its victims out of more than $400,000 from 2013 through 2015.  Dubbed “Operation Surreal Estate”, the investigation began in July 2015 when victims contacted the District Attorney’s Office for help.

The several-month-long investigation uncovered a crime ring, led by Allan Ramirez Rodriguez, 27, Brownsville, Texas, who convinced real estate buyers to invest in and/or purchase properties. False deeds were provided to the investors for properties Rodriguez and his accomplices never owned. Organizers of the scheme even attended public real estate auctions to provide an appearance of legitimacy.  Rodriguez was charged with three counts of theft of property, three counts of engaging in organized criminal activity and securing execution of a document by deception.  Rodriguez has not been taken into custody.

In addition to Rodriguez, those involved in the organized criminal activity were:

Melissa Rangel Ramirez, 27, Brownsville, Texas  – Charges: Theft of Property>=$100K<200K; Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity

Rene Ramirez, 57, Harlingen, Texas (WANTED) – Charge: Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity

Yolanda Rodriguez Ramirez, 59, Brownsville, Texas – Charge: Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity

Jesus Edward Ibarra, 29, Brownsville, Texas – Charges: Theft of Property>=$100K<200K; Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity; Impersonating a Public Servant

Sergio Alberto Alcocer, 35, Olmito, Texas – Charges: Theft of Property>=$100K<200K (two counts); Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity (two counts)

Luis Fernando Blanco, 22, Brownsville, Texas (WANTED) – Charges: Theft of Property>=$100K<200K; Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity (two counts); Secure Execution Document by Deception>$20K<$100K

The investigation remains ongoing.

Rachel Dollar

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One response to Charges in Operation Surreal Estate

  1. Here’s a bit more info, Rene and Yolanda are mom and dad, Allan is the Son who is married to Melissa who I believe was notarizing the transactions, two of the guys arrested had already been in jail for Drug convictions, the main family hails from the town of Vallehermoso Tamaulipas in Mexico, hotbed for drug dealers (Rene was a Truck driver, lots of South Texas truck drivers do “other” type of transportation on the side), The people getting scammed were mostly from Vallehermoso (gut tells me a good portion of it is dirty money), the amount scammed is really in the Millions (but since they can’t prove where their money came from they won’t come forward), Allan is a smooth talker but not the Walter White of the organization (I believe Mr White is sitting in a cozy office at the County courthouse, Ibarra used to work for him), 5 years ago Allan was helping his dad wash cars house to house, and two years later he was driving new cars, like a V12 Mercedes S-Class, Porsche Panamera, Corvette, Range Rover, BMW and an Escalade among other cars, I didn’t report it because I didn’t know about THIS scam, However I reported him for wholesale “exports” to Mexico, nothing was done, I can proudly say that I am just a concerned citizen who has never been involved in ANY illegal activity, His Dad said he is in Mexico, but I’d look at the house he poorly renovated (who changes half a roof, really?) that was on the market unsold (overpriced) for about 3 years and suddenly has been occupied for the past month, it’s a block down from where he used to live,

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