Gene MaddausMary Ann Parmelee, who was accused of torturing two loan modification consultants who had scammed her last year, has accepted a plea deal and has been released from jail.
Parmelee and her partner, Daniel Weston, formed a Bonnie-and-Clyde pair who built a real estate empire in La Canada Flintridge by bilking the banks and plundering the equity of friends and acquaintances, according to several lawsuits.
As detailed in an L.A. Weekly cover story in May, “Torture, Lies and Louis XIII Cognac,” Parmelee and Weston lost everything in the housing bust, and turned to two loan modification consultants for help.
Those consultants took their money but did nothing to stop the foreclosures. According to testimony at a preliminary hearing, Weston and an associate, Gustavo Canez, lured the two consultants to a business in Glendale. They tied the two men up, pistol-whipped them, beat them with electrical cords, and threatened to kill them if their money was not returned.
According to testimony, Parmelee threatened to cut off one of the consultant's testicles with a paper cutter.
In her agreement, Parmelee pleaded no contest on Monday to one count of making criminal threats. She was released on Monday night after serving approximately 11 months behind bars. Another defendant, Marissa Parker, pleaded no contest to one charge of being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to time served — approximately five months.
Weston and Canez remain behind bars, awaiting trial.
Stephen Wegman, an attorney who represented Parker, noted that no charges have yet been filed against Luis Garcia, one of the two loan modification consultants. He is alleged to have scammed victims out of tens of thousands of dollars.
“The only person who should have been charged with a crime is still walking the street,” Wegman said.
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