BRIEFLY IN PUBLIC SAFETY

Four in family are arrested in fraud case

Four family members were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of tax and real estate fraud involving two Newport Beach rental properties.

In an investigation by the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Safieh Fard of Escondido; her sister, Sedigheh Bahramian of Irvine; and one of Fard’s sons, Mohsen Kikalaye of Irvine surrendered to federal authorities in Santa Ana on Tuesday morning, according to IRS officials.

The three turned themselves in after authorities arrested Fard’s other son, Ahmad Kikalaye of Irvine, on Monday, authorities said.

All four were indicted on March 28 by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana in a tax fraud case involving two properties on Ocean Front West on the Balboa Peninsula, authorities said.

Fard, her two sons and Bahramian allegedly exchanged title of the properties multiple times between 1997 and 2004, according to Asst. U.S. Atty. Carmen Luege. The properties were transferred through fraudulent mortgage loans and then, once sold, the profit was not reported to the IRS or was reported as a loss, Luege said.

“When they ultimately reported it, they said [they] … lost money or made no money,” Luege said.

The properties were sold in 2004 by each of the two sons for more than $2 million each, Luege said.

Ahmad Kikalaye, if found guilty, faces 215 years in federal prison and fines totaling, $5.5 million. Mohsen Kikalaye faces 25 years in federal prison, and fines of up to $750,000, according to the IRS.

Local man surprises burglar on cellphone

A Costa Mesa man foiled an attempted burglary at his home when he walked in on the thief who was preoccupied in a cellphone conversation, police said.

At 1:40 p.m. Monday, Reveriano Flores, 36, entered the front door of his home in the 2000 block of Portola Drive. Inside he found a man talking on a cellphone. The man quickly split out the front door, Sgt. Marty Carver said.

The robber reportedly forced his way into the house through a bathroom window.

The man who was described as 25 to 30 years old, 5-foot-9, and approximately 230 pounds. He got into a burgundy Jeep Cherokee, possibly a 1980s model, driven by a dark-haired woman in her 20s, Carver said.

According to the victim, the burglary could have happened any time after 10:30 a.m. Monday, when he first left the house, police said.

Nothing was reported missing, police said.

Immigration authorities investigate suspect

Immigration authorities took custody of a Costa Mesa man Tuesday suspected of an unprovoked stabbing, police said.

Monday, Costa Mesa police arrested Ricardo Salas-Lariz, 21, at 19th Street and Pomona Avenue minutes after the stabbing, finding that he fit the victim’s description of his attacker, police said. Witnesses also identified Lariz, and he was arrested, Sgt. Marty Carver said.

The victim, Victor Velasquez, 19, of Costa Mesa was walking home to his apartment in the 1800 block of Placentia Avenue when Lariz allegedly “came out of the shadows” and attacked him, Carver said.

Officers found Velasquez on the stairwell of the apartment complex. Velasquez, who sustained a cut to his right thigh, was taken to a local hospital and later released, police said.

The suspect appeared to be intoxicated at the time of his arrest, Carver said.

Costa Mesa police said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have remanded the suspect for a number of reasons.