Police Nab Seal Beach Man in Alleged Foreclosure Scam

A Seal Beach businessman has been charged with 34 counts of fraud and elder abuse in what authorities allege was an extensive real estate scam  that cheated six victims out of $300,000.

After an eight-month investigation, police arrested John Wesley Martynec, 35, on 34 counts of fraud and elder abuse, said Seal Beach Police Sgt. Steve Bowles.

According to police, Martynec lured victims into an investment pool to buy foreclosed homes in Los Angeles with promises of quick returns on their investment.

“He told them that they were going to be buying foreclosed homes in Los Angeles County at low prices, rehab them and sell them for a profit,” Bowles said.

Martynec ran Samax Real Estate LLC on Ocean Avenue in Seal Beach. He e-mailed his investors updates about the properties, sent them deeds of ownership and claimed to be investing the profits into new investments, said Bowles. But then investors began demanding their money returned. When the profits never materialized after six months as promised, and Martynec stopped returning calls, his investors called the police last December, said Bowles.

Martynec was arrested this month and released on $150,000 bail.

According to investigators from the Seal Beach Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and the Orange County district attorney’s office, Martynec had only ever purchased one property with approximately $292,000 collected from the victims, and that property was later foreclosed upon. The properties Martynec had listed on the victims’ investment statements were real. However, neither he nor his company ever owned any of them, and the deeds sent to the victims were later determined to be fraudulent, said Bowles.