A New Mexico judge has ordered two brothers to repay an elderly Edgewood couple swindled out of $440,000 through real estate scams.
State District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Thursday sentenced Michael Maxwell of Edgewood and Steven Maxwell of Santa Barbara, Calif., to nine-year prison sentences, but the judge suspended the prison terms.
Each of the brothers was convicted in May of fraud and other crimes.
The judge called the brothers selfish and said she was prepared to send the Maxwells to prison.
However, the judge said she didn't because the prosecutor and the victims agreed that the brothers would be more able to make restitution if they weren't behind bars.
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