Earlier this week, Lucius Fisher Foster , the estranged father of actress Jodie Foster, was convicted on 21 counts of grand theft after bilking elderly investors out of more than $150,000 in a home building scheme.
Mr. Foster, 89, faces 25 years behind bars for his crimes.
According to a report by the Washington Post , Lucius scammed 21 elderly and low-income California residents into putting $5,000 down payments on modular homes made from Chinese shipping containers. However, the homes were never built.
“Not one of these homes has ever been built in the city of Los Angeles,” Deputy City Attorney Don Cocek told the jury, according to the ContraCosta Times. “It’s all a big scam.”
In response to the allegations, Foster, who acted as his own attorney, insisted he was offering a creative solution to the affordable housing crisis when he promised to build low-cost modular homes out of cargo containers.
Fox News reports that following his verdict, Lucius asked to be sentenced as soon as possible so he could get out and build houses to repay his victims the $200,000 he stole.
“I don’t think you get it,” judge Gregory Dohi replied. “You can never do this kind of work again.”
Foster’s sentencing, originally scheduled to take place on Thursday (Dec. 8), was pushed back a day after a transportation issue at the jail where he is being held caused him to miss the the bus to the court house.
