LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As Los Angeles housing advocates launched a campaign warning of mortgage rescue scams, a couple hit by foreclosure are charged with torturing two loan-modification agents they suspected of fraud, authorities said on Monday.

The couple, Daniel Weston and Mary Ann Parmelee, and three other people are accused of luring their two victims to an office where the men were tied up, held for hours and beaten, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney said.

Police were called after one of the victims managed to escape, said the spokeswoman, Shiara Davila-Morales. The incident occurred on Wednesday in the town of Glendale, just north of Los Angeles.

Weston, Parmelee and the three other defendants each were charged with two counts of torture, two counts of false imprisonment by violence and two counts of second-degree robbery, according to a criminal complaint filed against them.

Weston, 52, and Parmelee, 51, both arrested last week and jailed on $1 million bond, shared a house in the suburb of La Canada-Flintridge that is in foreclosure, authorities said.

"The two allegedly sought loan modification assistance from the victims but believed that nothing was being done and wanted their money back," a statement from the district attorney's office said.

Davila-Morales added that the couple, according to investigators, believed they had been swindled.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59Q03Q20091027

Weston and Parmelee held a press conference following their arrest that was only covered by  our ACTION NEWS TEAM:

At no time have we perpetrated torture. We were simply using enhanced interrogation techniques on members of a group of people who hate America and all it stands for. A group may I add, that threatens and has threatened the American Dream for tens of millions of people.

This year alone has produced almost two million forclosures in this country:

The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that a record 1 in 7.6 homeowners with a mortgage were either late making a payment or in foreclosure from April to June while delinquencies have expanded to prime loans.The trade group's quarterly National Delinquency Survey reviews 45 million loans that represent 80-85 percent of all outstanding first mortgages. It found that 9.24 percent of all mortgage holders were at least one month late making a payment and 4.3 percent of loans were in foreclosure.

"Florida continues to establish itself as the worst state in the union for mortgage performance, closely followed only by Nevada," said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist at the trade association. In a sign that has troubled many economists, an increasing number of mortgage holders with prime loans - those provided to people with good credit who made down payments - were delinquent.

5.23 percent of prime fixed rate mortgages were delinquent making payments compared with 3.07 percent a year ago.   http://abcnews.go.com/Business/mortgage-delinquencies-foreclosures-surge/story?id=8373550

The amount of pain and suffering caused by members of the banking Jihad keeps mounting and it is time to fight back. Fight them here before they run away with their billions to some other country, snickering as they get away with their ill gotten gain.

The economic crisis started with home foreclosures, and the numbers are getting worse: 6,600 new foreclosures a day; one every 13 seconds. (See foreclosures in your state.) Washington needs to understand that helping homeowners is key to helping the entire economy.

To stop the downward spiral, policymakers must stop relying on voluntary actions by lenders. TARP funds should be used to reduce home losses and encourage more loan modifications. There's also another effective, tax-free way to stop foreclosures: Congress could allow homeowners to get loan modifications through the courts. http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/tools-resources/national-foreclosure-ticker.html?gclid=CL3j3u6V3p0CFRPyDAodXFK_OA

We have now been arrested on the charge of torture.

But in point of fact we abided by the standards for enhanced interrogation techniques as laid out by George W Bush, Dick Cheney and by his legal staff. As Mr. Bybee put it:

We further conclude that certain acts may be cruel, inhuman, or degrading, but still not produce pain and suffering of the requisite intensity to fall within Section 2340A's proscription against torture. We conclude by examining possible defenses that would negate any claim that certain interrogation methods violate the statute.  http://www.tomjoad.org/bybeememo.htm

Did we degrade this enemy of the people? Yes we did and we did it for the greater good.

Were we cruel to a member of the Banking Jihad who threatens this country? Yes we were and we were so for the greater good.

Were we inhumane to this felon who stole everything we have? Yes we were inhumane but not as inhumane as he and his like have been to us and to people like us.

But we did not produce the type of pain and suffering of the requisite intensity to make us torturers under present statutes.

The Banking Jihad must be confronted in this country.  It has produced more pain and suffering than any other terrorist group in the world.

Our Action News Team will follow this story closely and provide updates on these arrests as they are disclosed.