South Gate Resident Continues to Fight Eviction, Faces Up to a Year in Jail

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On Wednesday at noon, Ana Casas Wilson, 50, a longtime South Gate resident who is suffering simultaneously from stage 4-breast cancer and cerebral palsy, will host another rally with supporters in front of her home to ask Wells Fargo, which serviced her loan, and US Bank, the owner of the mortgage, to not go through with the eviction.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was expected to evict Casas Wilson from her 8968 San Juan Avenue home, shortly after the notice expired three weeks ago.

According to a press release from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Casas Wilson was unable to make payments on her mortgage after falling ill with cancer in 2009. The sudden illness obliged James Wilson, her husband, to quit one of his two jobs, in order to take care of her. 

Wilson is currently a fulltime employee of the Lynwood Unified School District, and  Casas Wilson can make payments on her mortgage, if Wells Fargo awards her a loan modification.

In a statement to Patch, two weeks ago, Wells Fargo insisted that several attempts to remedy the situation had been tried.

“We provided loan modifications on two separate occasions [to James and Ana Casas-Wilson] and both offers were declined,” said Veronica Clemons, a spokesperson of Wells Fargo’s Home Mortgage Communications, via email. “We also have offered financial relocation assistance to help transition them to a new residence.  Those offers were turned down.”

Clemons also stated that the bank had received no payments been on the house since 2008.

These were claims that Peter Kuhns, an organizer with ACCE, took issue with. Telling Patch that a certified Housing Urban Development counselor stated that Casas Wilson does qualify for a modification, and has attempted to make payments.

“How can they say she has not made any payments since 2008, when she has tried to make them, and the banks wont take her money?” said Kuhns to Patch in October. “She has been trying to make payments.”

In April, Casas Wilson was arrested while allegedly attempting to make a payment to Tim Sloan, the Chief Financial Officer of Wells Fargo, during a protest outside of his house in San Marino.

According to an ACCE press release, on the 26th of November, Casas Wilson will be facing trial in the Los Angeles County Superior Court for charges related to her vigil in San Marino .

She faces a maximum penalty of a year In jail and $2000 in fines.

“I’ve been trying to get Wells Fargo to accept my money for three years – I went to Tim Sloan’s house because all I want is to stay in my home and keep making my payments,” said Casas Wilson, in a recent ACCE press release. “If Wells Fargo wanted to, they could call [District Attorney] Steve Cooley today and request that the charges against me be dropped – just like they could work with me right now on a loan modification.”

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