(AP file photo)

A Denver grand jury has indicted four people on 30 criminal charges in an alleged mortgage-fraud scheme that involved taking out inflated home loans and letting the properties go into foreclosure.

The gross proceeds from the alleged scam were $1.7 million, said Denver District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough. Some of that money was used to buy additional properties, she said. The victims were mortgage companies and straw buyers whose credit was ruined, she said.

The charges include violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, or racketeering; conspiracy to commit forgery; and filing false documents. The defendants are Max Dino Salazar of Denver; his mother, Maria Marcella Salazar; Marta Quinones; and Tyrone Howard Mack. The alleged crimes occurred from 2004 to 2007.

A Denver district judge has issued arrest warrants for each of the defendants, who remain at large, Kimbrough said.

They operated companies including Millionaires Circle Financial Services, Salco House, R&R Network, Trash to Treasure, Quinones Real Estate Services, A to Z Financial Services and Ameribuild Co.

The indictment details 17 real estate transactions, most in Denver.

In one of the transactions, Quinones bought a house in Denver's Hilltop neighborhood for $460,000 in December 2002 and immediately sold it to Salazar for $600,000.

In February 2004, Salazar sold the house to John Scherling of Aurora for $680,000. Scherling bought the house at the behest of Danny DeGrande, his partner and a Centennial real estate broker, according to the indictment. Scherling couldn't make his mortgage payments and in 2005 deeded the house back to Salazar in return for a $1,000 loan to Scherling. A month later, the property went into foreclosure.

Scherling and DeGrande weren't indicted in the case. But the men were charged last year in federal court with wire fraud and money laundering. They used falsified appraisals to defraud lending companies in 22 real estate deals in Pueblo in 2004.

Scherling pleaded guilty to wire fraud in May. DeGrande, a former Colorado prison guard turned real estate investor who once owned the Colorado Ice professional indoor football team, remains a fugitive.

Greg Griffin: 303-954-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com