Manuel "Manny" John Perez Jr. pleaded guilty to four felony grand-theft charges in connection with a real estate scheme that caused more than $3 million in losses, a Ventura County prosecutor said Tuesday.

Perez also pleaded guilty Monday to the felony charge of insufficient funds on a closed financial account.

When he is sentenced Nov. 12, he is expected to get 10 years and eight months in prison, along with being ordered to pay restitution, Senior Deputy District Attorney Miles Weiss said.

Perez, 36, of Oxnard, was accused of bilking sellers, real estate agents and lenders out of money by running fraudulent transactions through a series of businesses he owned. Nine victims and financial institutions were named in the criminal charges against him.

Most of the transactions involved deals for single-family homes in Oxnard in 2005, said Weiss, who heads a District Attorney's prosecution unit devoted to real estate fraud. Perez was charged in June 2006.

Weiss blamed "loose lending restrictions" by financial institutions that allowed Perez to submit bogus loan applications. The employment, income and, at times, the real estate appraisals were misrepresented to lenders so buyers could qualify to purchase homes, Weiss said.

The amounts of the loans used to purchase the homes were increased by several thousands of dollars above the actual contract sales price by inflating appraisals and, in some cases, phony sales contracts reflecting higher purchase prices were submitted, according to prosecutors.

The purported buyers received $2,000 fees for use of their identities, while Perez and an associate maintained control of the properties.

Perez, who was not a broker or agent licensed by the state Department of Real Estate, operated businesses that were involved in real estate sales, financing and escrow services. His businesses — Casa Bonita Realty, Creative Mortgage Solutions and Elite Escrow — have been closed.

A separate and unrelated company, Creative Mortgage Solutions in Encino, was not owned by Perez and continues to operate. The similarity in names has been a headache, said Marty Azoulay, owner of the Encino company.

"We get a ton of complaints (about) them," Azoulay said. "We actually considered changing our name because of it."

Also charged in 2006 along with Perez was Michele Galindo, who worked with him as a real estate agent. Galindo, 39, of Oxnard, recently pleaded guilty to related charges and was sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution, Weiss said.

Weiss said people must be careful in choosing a real estate agent or mortgage broker. He said customers should make sure the agent or broker is licensed by the state and should ask a lot of questions, get a second opinion regarding a business transaction and ask for references.