Lafayette Man Sentenced To Federal Prison

LAMORINDA, CA — A man from Lafayette convicted in February of bid rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Contra Costa County has been sentenced to a year in prison, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Thomas Joyce conspired with other bidders to avoid bidding against each other for specific properties that went up for auction between June 2008 and January 2011, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. After the designated bidder won the property, the co-conspirators would hold a second, private auction to determine who would keep the property and pay off the parties who agreed not to bid against one another.

Joyce was charged in December 2014 in a federal grand jury indictment. He was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, three years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service.

Co-defendant John Galloway, owner of Galloway Properties LLC in Brentwood, pleaded guilty in November and was also sentenced to one year in prison. Galloway was ordered to pay restitution of $265,050 and a criminal fine of $74,899.

The case was part of a federal investigation into real estate foreclosure auction bid rigging in San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties. More than 70 real estate investors have been charged in a series of indictments, and more than 60 of them have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty, prosecutors said.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock

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