Mohamed Salem Gets His Identity Back

The loan auditor who impersonated him in a foreclosure scam was sentenced to a year in jail last week, but Mill Valley attorney Mohamed Salem is still dealing with the aftermath of the crime.

The jovial 70-year old resident of the Marin Terrace neighborhood said this week that he is still getting letters and calls from court clerks from all over California, saying that he had failed to show up for hearings or failed to file documents on time.

“How could I have missed a hearing I didn’t know anything about?,” he said. “This guy filed lawsuits all over the state with my name attached. So it’s a bit difficult to deal with all this. But I’m fine.”

Salem, a career civil engineer who became a member of the state bar in 1990 to help resolve contract disputes within his own field, showed off a short stack of letters from court clerks. He laughed that his semi-retirement has been busy of late because of all of his legal issues stemming from the case.

The case began in May, when Nicolas Moscouplos, a 54-year-old Sacramento resident, was arrested for attempting to scam homeowners facing foreclosure. Moscouplos had set up a (now-defunct) Web site, www.canwinforeclosure.com, to offer to help residents fend off foreclosure actions, using Salem’s name.

Salem learned about the Web site after he received complaints from three other lawyers representing clients who had not received the legal service they’d paid for. He then informed the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force, a regional joint agency specializing in tech crimes and identity theft, quickly identified Moscouplos as the suspect. Investigators identified at least 12 victims.

Moscouplos pleaded guilty to false impersonation and identity theft. He was sentenced by Judge Kelly Simmons in Marin Superior Court.

In addition to the jail sentence, Moscouplos must pay $35,000 in restitution to the people who were scammed. Salem said he declined to seek restitution from the Moscouplos, primarily because his loss was his time.

“I didn’t want to get into all that,” he said.