Sarasota business owner sent to prison for real estate fraud

A Sarasota construction firm owner, in what officials call a case of unbridled greed, faces prison time after orchestrating a complicated scheme to use homeless people to commit multiple counts of real estate fraud going back at least four years and spanning at least four states.

Jose “Jay” Manuel Santiago, 43, owner of Santiago & Sons Construction at 4030 Sawyer Court in Sarasota, pleaded guilty to multiple federal fraud charges earlier this year. 

That fraud case — prosecuted in Virginia and involving homes in that state as well as in Tampa and Sarasota — came to a culmination May 3, when Santiago was sentenced to 36 months in prison. Santiago was also ordered to pay $553,028.33 in restitution. Santiago pleaded guilty to mail, wire and bank fraud in federal court in Virginia in February for the scheme that involved selling houses that did not belong to him, court documents show.