Yesterday, the government indicted eight more, including a second Chico home builder, in a fraud scheme with Garret Gililland. 06-17-102ndSSIndictmentGililland:
Weeks after indicting a Chico home builder for fraudulently unloading 62 houses he couldn't sell in 2006, the U.S. attorney's office has expanded the case to a second Chico builder, William E. Baker, for allegedly doing the same with six houses.
Baker and several alleged accomplices, including a Sacramento real estate professional and an Elk Grove woman, were indicted after an expanded investigation into the two home builders' sales operations as the housing boom soured, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner announced Thursday.
Federal authorities have issued arrest warrants. But they said Thursday they are offering the defendants the chance to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service on Monday.
Sacramento Bee, 6/18/10