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Bankruptcy fraud yields year in prison
SACRAMENTO January 11, 2007 7:01am 
• Central Valley woman sentenced • Landlords were victims Martha Montoya, 48, of Sacramento, has been sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to bankruptcy fraud.
Ms. Montoya filed 13 bankruptcies in Sacramento between July 1999 and January 2006, each for the purpose of delaying the collection of past due rents and her family's eviction from rental homes, according to prosecutors.
As part of her scheme, Ms. Montoya sought the protection of the automatic stay provisions of the Bankruptcy Code after her landlords obtained judgments against her for unpaid rents and won the right to evict her family, prosecutors say.
While the bankruptcy cases were grinding on, she lived in the homes rent-free while the owners of the residences were prevented from collecting past due rents, executing the judgments, or evicting her, according to court records.
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