When did we become just numbers in the financial reconciliation books on Wall Street? Those who perpetrated mortgage-backed securities fraud started a domino effect that caused economies to plunge around the world. Alarmingly, many people still aren't aware that their wages, pension plans, jobs and futures have been affected by the Wall Street casino gamblers who are still in charge and still at large.

Since our government has mastered the world of financial settlements for perpetrators of fraud – while homeowners who lost their homes to fraudulent foreclosures have gotten nothing from the multi-billion dollar windfalls – it's up to us, the people of the country, to raise our voice. To keep demanding justice and criminal prosecutions for the individuals who perpetrated the fraud, and those in charge of overseeing their work.

Robert Somerton is a homeowner from California whose foreclosure fraud story is similar to many around the country, yet still leaves its own mark. In recent years, many homeowners became desperate, not being able to prove to judges that the big banks had perpetrated the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, costing them their homes and life savings. They felt a deafening silence from all branches of government – a silence that told them that we do not, actually, have "equal justice for all."

Was it our system that completely failed us along the way? Or did we also fail each other? What could have been done differently so that people didn't feel so alone and isolated while watching the biggest fraud in modern memory engulf them and millions of Americans? During my own engagement with foreclosure fraud, I've learned that sooner or later you start to feel alone, judged by family members who grow tired dealing with your constant state of disbelief that foreclosure fraud is happening so openly and nothing is being done. Then comes the stage when you start blaming those who don’t understand you and your frustrations.

Facing a foreclosure sale on Sunday, Somerton’s story is similar to many others who are fighting this kind of fraud. “My dad died here on Cobb Mountain," he said. "This time of year, with the county trying to sell this house, now my own home. [It was] largely over unpaid state income taxes; he didn't believe in paying and it caught up with him in 1996. He took his own life just one day before the county was to auction off the home he'd built out of pocket and with his own two hands. The neighbors said there were people all over the property trying to get a look inside it, but that my dad had locked himself inside and refused to open the door. Then, late that afternoon, he pulled his truck into the attached one-car garage and left it running.

"I converted that garage into what is now a master suite, adding a new bath and closet to it. I turn 50 in February. I'm now alone here, as my dad was, battling one of the most powerful and corrupt banking institutions in the world, Bank of America, [as well as] the County of Lake recorder’s office and the sheriff's department."

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The following is my interview with Robert Somerton:

Senka Huskic: Did you have any strategy when you decided to challenge Bank of America’s standing to foreclose?

Robert Somerton: I had no strategy going into this. In fact, I wasn't planning anything until I got arrested trying to conduct a mortgage-related transaction. (He tried to pay in cash and it was not accepted.) I was told it could only be handled at a Bank of America branch. I did learn along the way that Bank of America's "standing" to enforce anything was highly questionable, just by the way they "acquired" our debt. This is nothing less than white-collar crime. Having a branch manager place me under citizens arrest for "trespassing" is Bank of America's way of criminalizing a homeowner.

SH: Did you ever feel like an outcast living this fight 24/7 while the majority of people around you didn’t understand it?

RS: Most - or, I should say, many - can't even begin to comprehend the horror we foreclosure fighters go through every damn day. The bank counts on homeowners to start packing up, moving on as soon as they drop the F-bomb. Banks really don't know what to do with folks who hold out and fight back, like we have. Yes, it is isolating, but I went back and spoke to the arresting officer, and he too could relate. We spoke for quite some time about his own experience with foreclosure. As I recall, he said a close family member had been through this. At this point just about everyone knows someone with a story much like our own.

Placing me under citizen’s arrest for trespassing, in front of my wife, is just one of the ways Bank of America has attempted to intimidate, humiliate and criminalize us both. I was there to conduct a mortgage-related transaction; I was told that could only be handled at a branch, in person. And in fact, after my arrest, the following day I was able to conclude that same transaction at another branch without incident.

SH: What was your experience with lawyers who you were trying to hire to defend your case? What was their level of knowledge of this fraud?

RS:Initially we found it extremely difficult to find good legal representation in this battle. But when we did find the lawyer who took our case, he suggested a contingency. We've not paid him a dime to date. He and another lawyer have brought us to the point that a jury trial has been scheduled in June of 2015. Bank of America has made a number of settlement offers along the way, but none that would even begin to compensate us for the sheer hell they've put us through over the past few years. We also have an upcoming "mandatory settlement hearing" scheduled in March but don't expect much of anything to come of it, given the lowball offers they've made in the past.

SH: How was your personal life affected by this long fight? Were do you find your strength to continue amidst so many obstacles?

RS: My personal life has been shredded into a million pieces over all of this. My wife and I had a plan in place to repay the arrears Bank of America still claims we owe them. But the wheels came of that cart when BoA noted on monthly statements that they were going to try lifting the bankruptcy stay – the only thing stopping another foreclosure attempt – charging us hundreds of dollars to do so. Shortly thereafter, when we also learned that our bankruptcy lawyer was being sanctioned by the Bar and had been suspended by the court from practicing law for six months, it all fell apart here at our home. My wife packed and moved out, she just couldn't handle the stress of yet another foreclosure looming over our home. Dark days come and go. My own sense of humor helps me not get too depressed about it all. That and my faithful friend Mateo, my four-legged companion who goes with me everywhere.

Also I would love to mention the extended community/network of both family and friends who've been supportive in our ongoing mortal combat with Bank of America. We all come together, both online and off, to expose these criminal banking cartels masquerading as legit players in the American mortgage-banking industry. We know and collectively refer to them as Banksters. These people are much like the strong-arm mafia thugs of old, but with the new twist of white collar crime thrown in.

This criminal activity is taking place with the tacit approval of assessors and recorders nationwide. It's only with the redecoration of [often fraudulent robo/surrogate-signed) documents that a lien is perfected. There is hint of collusion at the county level in that they continue recording documents they now know – and/or should know – to be forgeries. We in the foreclosure-fighting community are networking both behind the scenes and publicly, sharing what we've all learned along the way.

SH: What would be your message to others out there who are either fighting their foreclosure fraud or who are afraid to even enter this fight?

RS:I’d say what I’ve always said: Stay and fight! As soon as you start packing up to move out, you’ve already lost half the battle. We’ve been able to discover and will eventually prove in a court of law that Bank of America fabricated foreclosure documents they thought would serve as a “Proof of Claim” in bankruptcy court. And it may well have worked - our judge could apparently care less about such trivial details and the trustee won’t lift a finger except to aid Bank of America in the theft of our home and property.

Our upcoming civil lawsuit will expose all of the above and hopefully establish new case law from the federal bankruptcy court into evidence in the state court system. Bank of America's last and final offer to modify our loan was postmarked one day after the return-by date shown on the offer to "help a struggling homeowner." That document has now been added to our civil lawsuit against them as further proof of their trickery and ongoing deceptive practices.

We’ll have our day in court in June of this year and put the entire case up to a jury to decide if Bank of America has served us in good faith or not? Given the fact that millions of American families have lost their homes, often to illegal foreclosures, I'm truly amazed that one massive class action lawsuit hasn't sprung up yet. Individually, I can tell you from my own experience that it is a very long, hard road to get to the point we have now, with a jury trial scheduled for June of this year. With the help and guidance of many others in the same battle, we're just about through this, or at least I certainly hope we are.

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