Another defendant charged in the mortgage fraud case involving mortgage broker John Dimitrion pleaded guilty to conspiracy yesterday in federal court.

Rick Kealoha Pa Jr., 39, said he agreed to be a straw purchaser of a Kapolei home whose owner was facing foreclosure. He applied for and was granted a loan for $294,375 but had no intention of living in the home. He said he received $10,000 for helping the owner in what was presented to him as a foreclosure bailout.

“;I didn't know it was illegal,”; Pa said.

He faces a maximum five-year prison term when he is sentenced in August.

Pa said he provided mortgage processing and computer services to Dimitrion's brokerage company, Mortgage Alliance.

One of Dimitrion's former employees, Vance Yukio Inouye, 31, has already pleaded guilty and has promised to cooperate with the government.

Dimitrion and his wife, Julie Ann Baldueza Dimitrion, are scheduled to plead guilty later this month.

The final defendant, Benjamin Yoshito Thompson, is scheduled to stand trial in September.