A fraudster who targeted immigrants, taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from his victims with the promise of food trucks that were never built, was recently convicted, according to authorities.
Fernando Jauregui Ochoa, 30, of Ceres, was convicted of 18 counts of obtaining money by fraud, with an allegation that the total fraud exceeded $500,000; one count of witness intimidation; and an aggravating factor that he targeted vulnerable victims based on their immigration status, according to the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office.
"These individuals trusted Ochoa with their life savings," District Attorney Jeff Laugero said Friday in a social media post announcing the conviction. "Instead, he exploited their trust and vulnerabilities and stole from them."
The investigation into the case began after Laugero's office received multiple consumer fraud complaints involving Ochoa's food truck business, which took thousands of dollars from victims for custom trucks that were never built, according to authorities.
More than 40 victims were defrauded out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, authorities said, and Ochoa used the funds for drugs, vacations, and other personal luxuries. Many victims had entrusted Ochoa with their entire life savings in hopes of starting new businesses, according to authorities.
"I'm a legal resident, but many of the people he stole from were undocumented," Paulina Quintal, one of Ochoa's victims, told the Los Angeles Times. "It didn't matter to him. It broke my heart, and I told myself 'you're not going to get away with this, you're not going to make a fool of your own people.'"
Ochoa will be ordered to pay restitution and is expected to receive a 20-year prison sentence on Oct. 30, authorities said.
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