By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Chantal Sprankle wants to make it clear to Benicia residents that she doesn’t know Rocky Prasad, who formerly operated a similar business at the site where she runs Sprankle’s Village Deli.

Nor did any real estate agent inform her why the previous owner, who sometimes used the alias Jack Loc, closed his business with a similar name, Village Delicatessen, which had been open from 1976 to 2011, she said Monday.

Prasad, then a Vallejo resident, was arrested Oct. 12, 2011, in connection with loan fraud cases, according to Paul Colin, Santa Clara deputy district attorney.

In November of that year Prasad pleaded no contest to two charges of grand theft for falsely offering to provide mortgages to two Santa Clara County clients.

Colin said Prasad had neither the proper licensing nor a legitimate source of money for Prestige Loans, nor did that company have the 20 years of experience Prasad proclaimed on his company’s website, which also was closed.

Colin said Nov. 23, 2011, that Prasad would be sentenced early in 2012 to six months in custody and three years of formal probation.

However, Colin said at the time the investigation indicated Prasad may face additional charges in similar cases under investigation outside the Santa Clara jurisdiction.

In fact, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s office announced this month it has issued a warrant accusing Prasad of two felony-level theft charges tied to his home loan business, Prestige Loans Corp., for which he used the delicatessen’s address in its paperwork.

William Atkinson, assistant district attorney for Santa Cruz County, said Sept. 2 the case, which was reported in Watsonville, is “virtually identical” to the Santa Clara scams, and his office issued the warrant because Prasad’s whereabouts are unknown.

He has asked anyone with information about Prasad to call the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office, 831-454-2440.

After his arrest in 2011, Prasad closed his Benicia business. Retail Pacific, a Walnut Creek commercial real estate company, listed the 1,200-foot Solano Square storefront. Agent Greg Labarthe said Nov. 29, 2011, that he didn’t expect the site would be vacant for long.

Sprankle said she opened her business three months after Prasad closed his, in February 2012, at the site at 82 Solano Square.

She added her own last name to distinguish her delicatessen from the previous business, but even after a year some people still tell her they didn’t know the company is hers.

“On a weekly basis, at least 10 people ask, ‘Are you the new owners?’” she said.

They tell her, “‘Oh, the old place didn’t have product, and they were overpriced,’” she said.

“It’s not the same place,” she said. “Sprankle’s is kicking butt. It’s serving fresh food.”

When Atkinson’s announcement was released, Sprankle became worried it would harm her business, even though it’s a separate company that has no ties to Prasad.

“I don’t even know the man,” she said. She said rather than hear from a real estate agent why the previous deli had closed, “I heard about it around town … we found out from the community,” after she opened her deli.

She said she is experiencing a downturn in customers since Atkinson’s announcement.

“People don’t always read the story,” she said. “They don’t know, because the sign is still there. But normally on a given day, I wouldn’t have the time to talk at 12:20 p.m.,” she said.

“I’m just a little mom-and-pop place trying to make it. It hurts.”