Attorney General Jerry Brown announced today arrest warrants for five people allegedly  getting homeowners in foreclosure to pay $10,000 and save their home by deeding their property to a “land grant” company. 

The Federal Land Grant Company, run by Bill Hutchings and wife Xiaoke Li out of San Diego, reportedly attached a survey of the Spanish Land Grant of 1872 and said the deed reinstated the land grant. More than 300 properties were transferred to the company in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties, Brown said.

The San Diego District Attorney’s office and FBI agents served arrest warrants and three search warrants at one of the company’s seminars in San Diego on Wednesday. Among those arrested: Hutchings, 62, Li, 43, Edgar Martinez, 30 and Diego Gil, on charges of conspiracy, grand theft and deceitful practices. Another warrant was issued for Shawna Landis, 29, of Sorrento Valley.

Brown offers this gem to those who think a land grant could protect them:

“There hasn’t been any legitimate use of the land grant since the conclusion of the Mexican-American war,” Brown said. “If some fast-talking scam artist offers a quick escape from foreclosure using archaic documents, be extremely suspicious.“

Amen.