Jury convicts man in San Mateo County real estate scam

Prosecutors said Southern California pair tricked Redwood City woman, 66, into signing over million-dollar-plus home

“This man is a fraud. He cheated people. Hopefully, now he will receive the sentence he deserves for being a fraud in our community.” — Stephen Wagstaffe, San Mateo County district attorney

A Southern California man was convicted on Friday of all charges in a case where prosecutors said that he had scammed a Bay Area resident into selling him her home for far below its market value.

Justin Rodgers Hall, 43, a Van Nuys resident, was found guilty of 15 charges by a San Mateo County Superior Court jury after more than two days of deliberations. The jury found him guilty of six counts of felony money laundering, three counts of filing a false document, two counts of perjury and one count each of theft from an elder, attempted grand theft, commercial burglary and grand theft. Several special allegations — of theft over $100,000, theft over $500,000 and planning sophistication or professionalism — also were found to be true.

Hall was accused of working with Tonika Miller, a 38-year-old licensed real estate agent from Studio City, to persuade a 66-year-old Redwood City woman to sell her house, valued between $1.5 million and $1.7 million, for roughly a third of that. Even after the shady deal, prosecutors said, Hall and Miller gave the woman only $2,000 in cash, reneged on a promise to let the woman stay on the property until her death and sold the property to a third party, who subsequently attempted to evict the woman.

San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said prosecutors were retrying the case after a 2023 trial that ended with a hung jury: 11 jurors were in favor of finding Hall guilty, Wagstaffe said, but one holdout would not vote to convict.

Hall's defense attorney, Charles J. Smith III, said he was disappointed that Hall had been found guilty and that he planned to file a notice for appeal.

Miller pleaded no contest to charges against her in 2020 and served three years and four months in prison, authorities said.

The victim had defaulted on her property taxes before the scam took place, so the county tax collector had planned to auction off her house in July 2018. However, prosecutors said, Miller met with the victim at Applebee's, where she plied her with margaritas, then offered the victim $500,000 as a reverse mortgage and said the homeowner would be allowed to live in the house until her death.

Miller gave the victim $1,000 in cash, prosecutors said. The victim then signed over her property to Rex Regum LLC, a company owned by Hall. On the same day, Hall recorded the property deed and immediately paid the delinquent property taxes.

The deed claimed the victim received $800,000 for the property, but prosecutors said the victim did not receive the money and that she did not know that she signed over ownership of her property.

The incident first was reported by the county recorder's office when staffers there noticed that the house's sale price was far below market value. Prosecutors said Miller told an inspector that she had “cleared everything up”; the victim told the inspector that Miller had given her another $1,000 in cash and increased the purchase price of her home to $600,000.

On Aug. 22, 2018, Hall sold the property to a third party for $997,000. Nine days later, Miller went to the victim's house; she brought a U-Haul truck with her, as well as a fellow real estate agent. Prosecutors said she claimed she wanted to “help” the victim move out and buy a new house in Auburn.

The real estate agent who came along with Miller became suspicious of the sale and reported it to Redwood City police. Officers arrived to the scene and ordered Miller to leave.

Lawyers representing the victim and the new buyer are working with officials and the court to reach an amicable resolution and determine the amount of restitution to be paid, Wagstaffe said. According to the district attorney's office's news release, Hall transferred the money earned from the sale through numerous bank accounts.

Hall's attorney, Smith, said that the victim did not lose her house since the whole transaction had been undone, and that she did not have to spend a day outside of her house. The third party that Hall sold the house to, a real estate investor, also was reimbursed from title insurance.

Although Hall did not commit a “victimless crime,” Smith said “both victims have been made whole, and we'll ask judges to take that into consideration.”

Wagstaffe said that Hall may be sentenced to up to 21 years in state prison following his conviction. He faces sentencing at a June 17 hearing.

“Sometimes, justice takes time. This one here took persistence from our prosecutor,” said Wagstaffe. “This man is a fraud. He cheated people. Hopefully, now he will receive the sentence he deserves for being a fraud in our community.”