HONOLULU -- It’s been nearly five years since the Fagaragan family of Ewa Beach realized that the people who promised to save their home from foreclosure had actually stolen it. Thursday, one of the people involved in that mortgage fraud case was sentenced to prison while the Fagaragans still hope to regain full ownership.

The family was nearly evicted by the mortgage con, and has been living in limbo ever since. Theirs was one of the first homes stolen in what became a common scheme. Mortgage companies promising to save a family from foreclosure actually fooled them into signing title over to a straw buyer and then sucked out the equity with more loans against the property.

Debbie Aurelio Fagaragan was in court Thursday as one of the thieves, 31-year-old Vance Yukio Inouye, was sentenced to five months in prison with four months of the time to be served on weekends. His attorney argued that Inouye was an inexperienced, young loan officer who didn’t understand the full implications of the loan documents he was processing. But federal prosecutor Clare Connors disagreed. “He did know what was going on. He was a full-blown member of the conspiracy. As a loan officer, he understood how loans were brokered,” Connors said. She also pointed out that Inouye recruited his wife and had her sign false statements as the straw buyer.

Nonetheless, Connors did support a reduction in Inouye’s sentence. “He accepted responsibility. He knew that what he did was wrong and he also cooperated with the United States investigation against others,” Connors said.

Inouye’s wife, Patricia Inouye, who is still the official title holder of the Fagaragan home, has never been charged. Still be to be sentenced are Inouye's bosses, John and Julie Dimitrion, owners of "Mortgage Alliance." They pleaded guilty to the Fagaragan fraud and two other similar straw buyer schemes.

Prosecutors expect the Dimitrions, as organizers of the conspiracy, will do serious jail time, which they hope will send a message. “If you lie on applications, if you make representations that are not true, you will face jail time,” Connors said.

Debbie Aurelio didn't comment to reporters Thursday. Her Legal Aid attorney hopes the defendants will pay enough restitution to satisfy the banks. The judge Thursday ordered Inouye to pay $274,000. Of that, $200,000 will go to GMAC to pay off a loan the Inouyes took out on the house, the other $74,000 for the Fagaragan family. “They want their home back is what they really care about,” said Legal Aid attorney Russ Awakuni.

Awakuni said the family still must negotiate with the Inouyes' attorneys to get Patricia Inouye to sign the home's title back to the Fagaragans and negotiate with banks to arrange affordable loans.