Utahns Mark Jeff Blair, of Topaz Development LLC, and Anna Lizeth Loya-Marquez, of Imperial Processing, have each been charged with eight counts of communications fraud and one count of pattern of unlawful activity. Both are second-degree felonies.

Karen Gamma, an employee of Topaz development, has been charged with one count of communications fraud.

The charges stem from allegations by Latino families throughout the Salt Lake Valley who said Loya and Blair, operating out of offices near 900 East and 5800 South, told them they were buying homes and collected thousands of dollars in "down payments" and "loan processing fees," according to charging documents filed Thursday.

In actuality, the families were only signing long-term lease agreements with options to buy the homes sometime in the future, the documents allege.

Both Loya and Blair have denied any wrongdoing and insist that those who have gone to authorities simply did not understand what they were doing.

Assistant Attorney General Charlene Barlow doesn't buy it.

"If you're telling somebody you're taking their money to help them buy a home and not mentioning they are actually getting a lease-option agreement, that's a problem," she said Friday. "A lease option is not an outright purchase of a home."

According to prosecutors, numerous people said neither Topaz Development nor Imperial Processing required proof of legal residency, a valid Social Security number or valid identification to "process" home loans.

"In most cases, open conversations took place between victims and Blair and Loya with regard to the fact that these individuals were not legal residents of the United States," said the charges.

Latinos such as Miguel Soria told The Salt Lake Tribune they were drawn to Loya, who advertised on Spanish-language Radio Exitos 1550 AM, because she could help local Latinos who speak little English buy their own home. Some say they dealt exclusively with Loya, others mainly with Blair. Others say they worked with both of them.

The charges filed Thursday allege Soria gave Loya and Blair more than $9,000 for a down payment and loan processing fees on a home they thought they were buying. Soria said he was shocked when shortly afterward he got a rental agreement in the mail.

Like many people who say they were scammed by Loya and Blair, Fabian and Margarita Bucio claim they, too, thought they were buying a home and found out only after they moved in that they were only renters.

The Payson Police Department also sent an undercover agent posing as a Latina without legal papers and no credit history to ask Blair and Loya for help in buying a home, according to the charges.

Blair, together with Gamma, allegedly told the agent they would accept a fake ID from her. Prosecutors say after "processing" her request, Blair and Gamma took a $1,800 "down payment" on a new home. They then gave the agent a date and time to return and close on her purchase.

Blair and Loya-Marquez were booked into Salt Lake County jail Friday and are being held on a $100,000 bail. Gamma also was booked into the jail on Friday and is being held on a $50,000 bail.