Luetta Kaye Jacobsen, 61, Cherry Valley, California, was sentenced in St. Paul, Minnsetoa, to 27 months in prison for defrauding her real estate clients. United States District Judge Richard Kyle also sentenced Jacobsen to three years of supervised release and ordered her to pay at least $804,035.14 in restitution.

Jacobsen worked as a real estate broker in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and was an independent franchisee of the Coldwell Banker real estate company. She worked with U.S. citizens who were interested in acquiring an interest in vacation or retirement properties in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

According to Jacobsen's plea agreement, from April 2001 to December 2001, she did knowingly and intentionally devise and execute a scheme to defraud clients of her real estate business and to obtain money and property from them by means of false and fraudulent pretenses. Jacobsen told her clients to wire funds that were to be used to purchase interests in property to a bank account that she controlled in San Diego. Jacobsen then told the clients that the money wired would be held in escrow and used to purchase interests in property on their behalf. However, Jacobsen used the funds for her own personal use. The plea agreement specifically cites a wire transfer of $47,398 from a Minnesota resident to Jacobsen's San Diego bank account on Sept. 28, 2001. The total loss to all victims was more than $1 million.