A couple who called themselves Cheri and Terry Tucker are appealing a judge’s decision to lock them up in federal prison for 10 years.

Terrance George Tucker, 65, and Sonya Delores Wodke Tucker, 65, who pleaded guilty to bank fraud, were sentenced to 121 months and 120 months, respectively, by U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real on Nov. 30.

Their appeals will have no effect on a restitution hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 22 or their going to prison, said Assistant U.S. District Attorney Mark Aveis.

The Bureau of Prisons hasn’t yet announced which facilities the Tuckers will be transferred to. They’re currently at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, an administrative facility for male and female inmates, where they’ve been held without bail since their arrest in March.

In a letter to the judge, Terry Tucker said he didn’t like the cavity searches or lack of privacy in jail when he used the toilet. He also expressed concern about his safety.

Before their arrest, the Tuckers worked locally and operated Tucker Mortgage in Thousand Oaks and San Diego. They also sold real estate.

The two were convicted of involvement in fraudulent loan applications. Their sentencing on two counts of bank fraud could have brought a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison for each count, or 60 years total for each of them.

Under federal law, the Tuckers will serve 85 percent of their sentence, minus a year for time served.

There’s no early release similar to the state system, Aveis said.

Which federal prison facilities the two will occupy will be determined by the Bureau of Prisons, said spokesperson Felicia Ponce in Washington, D.C.

“Inmates are assigned points to determine their security level and needs,” she said.

Severity of offense, criminal history, history of violence, history of escape, age, education, substance abuse and public safety are factors.

“A prison designation is normally made within a week,” Ponce said.

But where someone will be incarcerated isn’t announced until after U.S. marshals transport the inmate to the prison, she said.

“We try to send prisoners within 500 miles of their homes, but they could go anywhere in the country,” Ponce said.

In a letter Sonya Tucker wrote to the judge she said, “It breaks my heart that Terry is in jail when he is especially sick. He has suffered five heart attacks and two heart surgeries since our arrest.”

Sonya Tucker is a breast cancer survivor.

Health issues could also be considered in determining where inmates are sent, Ponce said.

During the sentencing hearing, the judge referred to Terrance Tucker as a financial predator and called Sonya Tucker a danger to others.

After more than a year of investigation by the Ventura County district attorney’s office, with help from the Secret Service and federal prosecutors, the two were arrested in Stillwater, Okla., living in a motor home on a relative’s property.

The couple were charged with a scheme in which they sought out private real estate investments from individuals, most of whom were elderly.

Investors got no firm documentation on what they were actually investing in but were promised interest of 12 percent or more.

The Tuckers then took the investment money and used it to secure about $80 million in conventional mortgage loans for about 400 unsuspecting homebuyers by falsely stating the down payments came from the assets of the borrowers when they actually had come from private investors.

The couple told clients, who were mostly friends or members of their church, they could buy a home by getting 100 percent financing through a combination of conventional loans and short-term, high-interest loans called hard money loans.

According to court documents, the Tuckers also filled out bank loan applications with false information about jobs and incomes.

When the homeowners’ hard money loans came due, they would be advised to pay them off with a home equity line of credit obtained by the Tuckers. Instead of paying off the loans for the homeowners, the Tuckers would reinvest that money in new hard money loans. When the real estate bubble burst, the Ponzi scheme crumbled.