Three arrested in $1.5 million elder fraud scam with victims in North Texas and beyond, police say

A scam that allegedly defrauded more than 75 older Texans out of $1.5 million has led to the arrest of three men, McKinney police said.

Prakash Krishnaraj, 58, is charged with making a false statement to obtain property. Christian Bolding, 31, and Eric Ell, 23, face charges of financial abuse of the elderly and making a false statement to obtain property or credit. All charges are felonies.

Victims across North Texas cities, statewide

Victims were reported in the North Texas cities of McKinney, Allen, Wylie and Frisco.

"The scope of the fraud involved in this case suggests that the operation may be far more expansive than what has been uncovered so far," McKinney Police Chief Joe Ellenburg said. "This highlights the growing threat of financial exploitation targeting older adults. We are committed to working with partner agencies across Texas to stop these crimes and protect vulnerable populations."

McKinney Police Department

Six-month investigation leads to arrests

The arrests followed a six-month investigation. 

Operating under the names Precision Home Pros and Krishnaraj Construction, the suspects allegedly approached victims in retail stores and other public places, offering to lower their phone, cable and service bills. They installed low-cost streaming and security devices as part of the pitch.

Forged loans tied to devices, police say

Police said the suspects then used electronic signature platforms to forge long-term loan agreements ranging from $13,000 to $32,500. Victims were unknowingly responsible for 20-year loans with interest.

Funds funneled through shell companies

Funds were deposited into accounts controlled by the suspects, affiliated shell companies, or businesses linked to the scheme, while victims were left to repay the loans, police said. 

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Three arrested in $1.5 million elder fraud scam with victims in North Texas and beyond, police say 

Three accused of fraud targeting dozens of older adults across North Texas

Over 75 potential victims have been identified statewide, and the estimated financial impact is $1.5 million. 

By Alexis Garcia

McKinney police have arrested three people in connection with a large-scale financial exploitation scheme targeting older adult victims across the state of Texas, including in McKinney, Allen, Wylie, Frisco, and Lago Vista.

An investigation revealed that the suspects approached older adult victims at retail stores and public locations, offering to reduce their cable, phone, and security service bills.

Victims were misled into switching to existing service providers in exchange for installing low-cost streaming and security devices. The men then used electronic signature platforms to fraudulently transfer the victims’ signatures onto long-term loan agreements without their knowledge or consent.

These false documents were submitted to various financial institutions, resulting in loan disbursements ranging from $13,000 to $32,500. Funds were deposited into accounts controlled by the suspects, affiliated shell companies, or businesses linked to the scheme, while the victims were left responsible for repaying 20-year loans with interest.

Throughout a six-month investigation, more than 75 potential victims have been identified statewide, including eight in McKinney. The total estimated financial impact of the scheme is approximately $1.5 million so far.

Police identified the suspects as 31-year-old Christian Bolding, 23-year-old Eric Ell, and 58-year-old Prakash Krishnaraj. Investigators said the trio also operated under the business names Precision Home Pros and Krishnaraj Construction.

All three suspects were charged with false statements to obtain property or credit. Bolding and Ell have also been charged with financial abuse of the elderly. 

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Three accused of fraud targeting dozens of older adults across North Texas 

PA State Police: Three charged, accused of misusing $500K in elder fraud case

by Caitlyn Scott

BELLE VERNON, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations has filed charges against three individuals who they say exploited the finances of an elderly woman for their own personal gain.

In a release from state officials Sunday, Todd Reppert, Ty Reppert, and Laura Reppert have been charged with financial exploitation of an elder, corrupt organizations, conspiracy, and multiple felony theft charges.

Officials said the investigation into financial misconduct involving Donna Reppert began in January 2019, shortly after her son, Todd Reppert, assumed the role of Power of Attorney.

Todd, the release said, was entrusted with managing her financial affairs and acting in her best interests. Evidence, however, indicated that Todd and the two other individuals abused their authority for personal gain.

"Between January 2019 and January 2023, the three individuals misappropriated a final judgment totaling $500,009.41," the release read.

The release continued, saying, "Despite having no legal authorization to access or use these funds for their own benefit, they diverted the money to cover personal expenses, including the payment of bills, the purchase of a BMW, the acquisition of real estate, and gambling activities on online casino platforms."

Officials said an investigation is ongoing.

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PA State Police: Three charged, accused of misusing $500K in elder fraud case

Miami-Dade fugitive accused of fraud awaits extradition after arrest in Spain

Hadee Toledo was arrested in Spain and was awaiting extradition to Miami-Dade County for charges related to a crime in Hialeah, authorities reported on Friday. (HPD)

by Andrea Torres

MIAMI – A woman who was accused of defrauding a 93-year-old man in Hialeah was arrested in Spain after being on the run for about a year, authorities reported on Friday.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office confirmed the extradition unit was working with the U.S. Marshals and other federal agencies to bring Hadee Toledo back for prosecution.

Officers arrested Toledo’s son Italo Nelli last year accusing him of working with his mother to steal more than $500,000 from Manuel Toledo.

Investigators accused Hadee Toledo, formerly known as Haidee Hidalgo Pena, of changing her name in 2019 as she preyed on him.

After he recovered from COVID, Manuel Toledo was released from the hospital to the Hialeah Shores Nursing & Rehabilitation Center’s COVID-19 unit on Aug. 19, 2021. According to investigators, a woman later took him to the Sunshine Adult Center ALF.

Detectives accused Hadee Toledo of falsifying documents and of scheming her way into his bank accounts and selling his home, prosecutors said.

Hadee Toledo faces charges of exploitation of the elderly, conspiracy to commit an organized scheme to defraud, forgery, and the fraudulent use of personal identification.  

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Miami-Dade fugitive accused of fraud awaits extradition after arrest in Spain

‘It’s sad:’ Dementia leads to dropped charge against caregiver accused of stealing $17K

FRANKLIN — Stealing from the elderly is a growing problem across Wisconsin, and the FOX6 Investigators found caregivers suspected of financially abusing their elderly clients sometimes go unpunished.

Franklin police said they had a "tight case" against a personal care worker accused of fraud, until something happened that derailed it. It is something millions of Americans face that makes them especially vulnerable to financial exploitation.

When Grace Rutkowski arrived to chat with Franklin police in summer 2018, she still had a sharp sense of humor.

"Oh, she's good looking," Rutkowski said as Detective Steven Horn held out a cellphone picture of his wife. "How'd you get her?"

Horn recorded the interview as evidence that the 83-year-old alleged fraud victim was competent.

"How do you feel about this money being taken out of your account?" Horn asked in the recording.

"I don't like it," Rutkowski replied.

"She was able to answer the questions very clearly," said Captain Craig Liermann, Horn's boss.

This was the second time police had interviewed Rutkowski and, this time, it was the final piece of a nearly 18-month investigation into Nicole McAtee.

In September 2018, prosecutors charged McAtee with a felony for allegedly stealing more than $17,000 from her elderly client.

The FOX6 Investigators first met McAtee at a south side gas station.

"You were charged with theft," said Bryan Polcyn, FOX6 Investigator.

"No, I wasn't charged," McAtee said.

"You were charged. I have the records," Polcyn said.

She just happened to be standing at the very ATM police said she had used to defraud Rutkowski.

"How'd you know it was me?" McAtee asked.

Polcyn gave McAtee his business card and a one-week deadline to call back and set up an interview so she could provide her side of the story. She promised to call but never did. That is, until two days before the story was set to be broadcast when McAtee's face started appearing in on-air promotions.

"This lady had a spending habit," McAtee said.

McAtee was hired in September 2016 by Visiting Angels, an independently-owned** home care franchise in Milwaukee that assigned her to care for Rutkowski at her Greendale apartment.

"How long after you met her did you get her debit card?" Polcyn asked.

"A year?" McAtee said while twisting her face with apparent uncertainty.

"A year,"  Polcyn repeated.

"Maybe six months to a year," McAtee said.

Actually, police the said the same month McAtee starting caring for Rutkowski, there was a "dramatic increase in debit card purchases and cash withdrawals" on Rutkowski's bank account.

"Why did she have your debit card?" Horn asked Rutkowski.

"Because when I needed some clothes and that from Walmart," Rutkowski said.

Surveillance video from Walmart showed McAtee stocking up on everything from Gatorade and Easter candy, to laundry soap and a stack of DVD movies, and then using Rutkowski's debit card to pay for it.

"Did you take that to her?" Polcyn asked.

"Yeah. Everything we bought was taken to Grace," McAtee said.

Police reports indicated Rutkowski never saw any of it.

"Did she have permission to buy things for herself with the card?" Horn said.

"No," Rutkowski said.

"No, okay. So that was, it was strictly set up for..."  Horn said.

"For me," Rutkowski said.

Records showed McAtee repeatedly used the card at an ATM just blocks from her own apartment and nowhere near Rutkowski's.

"I would grab the money here and then go to her house," McAtee said.

Four months after they first met, Rutkowski signed documents making McAtee her power of attorney. That meant McAtee had complete legal control over all of the elderly woman's finances.

"She said, 'Would you like to be my POA?' and I said, 'Grace, I don't know what that is,'" McAtee recalled.

"But why would you say yes to that if you don't know what that is?" Polcyn asked.

"'Cause she didn't have family," McAtee said.

"Why did you do that?" Horn asked in the recorded interview with Rutkowski.

"Because I didn't have one and I needed one," Rutkowski said.

"She clearly established a relationship, developed a trust, and then took advantage of that trust," Liermann said.

Visiting Angels told police the POA agreement was "against company policy."

Days after they learned of it, McAtee stopped coming to work. Visiting Angels officials said she was "terminated," but for a different reason.

That same month, April 2017, Rutkowski moved to Lake Pointe Manor in Franklin, but for another full year, police said, McAtee kept her debit card, kept the power of attorney, and kept on spending Rutkowski's money.

What she failed to do was live up to her duty as POA in paying for Rutkowski's room and board. By April 2018, Rutkowski was 10 months behind in payments and owed nearly $8,000 to Lake Pointe Manor.

"Financial exploitation is a crime of opportunity and greed," said Doreen Goetsch, coordinator of Adult Protective Services for the Wisconsin Department of Health.

In 2018, Goetsch said agencies across the state took nearly 9,000 calls about elder abuse, with 20% of those calls involving some form of financial exploitation.

"These are crimes against our frail elderly, and we need to prosecute these cases," Goetsch said.

Juanita Woods stole rings from a dementia patient in West Allis.

Elizabeth Reda filled garbage bags full of residents' valuables in Burlington.

Ratravion Wade repeatedly pressured a group home resident in Racine to loan him money.

Then, there's Tenisha Ivy, who claimed to have found an assisted living client's debit card on the ground.

"I just figured, 'Oh, this is a card. I can use this. I mean, I'm not using my money,'" Ivy said in a recorded police interview.

She then proceeded to use the card at restaurants, bars, and gas stations.

"Yeah, I probably done used it to see if it worked or somethin' like that," Ivy said.

"But that is stealing," said a Milwaukee police detective. "Why would you use it if it`s not yours to see if it worked?"

"You're right. You can't put that any other way but stealing," Ivy said.

Woods, Reda, Wade, and Ivy were all found guilty of crimes and flagged on the state's caregiver misconduct registry, but Goetsch said that is the exception, not the rule.

"People are reluctant to report. They are often ashamed. They are embarrassed. They don't know who to tell," Goetsch said.

Even when they do, she said, police often treat it as a civil offense and prosecutors are hesitant to charge.

"Because the person has dementia," Goetsch said.

As McAtee's case languished in court for nearly a year, Rutkowski's health declined.

"Sometimes you get things mixed up," Rutkowski said.

Prosecutors eventually determined that progressive dementia had made her an unreliable witness, so they dismissed the case.

"The very kind of person she took advantage of was someone who was in failing health," Polcyn said.

"Correct. It worked to her advantage, unfortunately," Liermann said.

"That's not the case," McAtee said. "I was there for her."

The former caregiver said she is the real victim.

"I can't pursue nothing I want to do with my career or further myself, because of this," she said. "I did what I could for this lady,a nd for everybody to put me out there like I'm a bad person? I'm only guilty of taking care of an elderly that did not have anybody. That's the only thing I'm guilty of."

That's true. Because prosecutors dismissed the case, Nicole McAtee is not guilty of a crime, but Franklin police said they still want you to know who she is just in case she ever comes to care for someone you love.

"It's sad," Liermann said.

In Wisconsin, registered nurses, CNAs, and LPNs are all regulated by the Office of Caregiver Quality, which tracks allegations of abuse, but Nicole McAtee was not a CNA or LPN. She was a "personal care worker," meaning she helped with meal prep, bathing, cleaning, and so on.

Personal care workers are not required to be licensed and, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, they are not tracked or regulated.

In other words, theoretically, she could get another job as a personal care worker, assuming someone would hire her.

If you want to protect someone you love from elder financial abuse, DHS recommends you keep a close eye on their accounts. If you can, register for email or text notifications whenever there's a withdrawal or debit on the account.

If you suspect abuse of any kind, call your local county's elder adults-at-risk helpline. There is one for every county in Wisconsin. CLICK HERE to learn more.

**Visiting Angels is a national network of home care agencies with franchises that are independently owned and operated. This case involved a caregiver hired by the Milwaukee office of Visiting Angels, managed locally by Angela Sanchez. In a voicemail left for the FOX6 Investigators, Sanchez indicated that Nicole McAtee was "terminated," but not for obtaining Power of Attorney over Rutkowski. Sanchez said she was unaware of the POA until shortly before McAtee's employment ended.

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‘It’s sad:’ Dementia leads to dropped charge against caregiver accused of stealing $17K

Complaint: Probate judge used position to raid estate

By Katy Barnitz / Journal Staff Writer

In her role as a deputy field investigator with the state Office of the Medical Investigator, Pamela Smith was sent on March 9, 2017, to look into the death of 82-year-old Dominic Domingo. Then, in her role as Sierra County probate judge, she appointed her own husband as special administrator to his estate.

Randy Smith went on to move nearly $300,000 from Domingo’s accounts into their own, ignoring “living heirs entitled to the estate.”

That’s according to criminal complaints filed Tuesday by the state Attorney General’s Office against the Truth or Consequences couple. The criminal charges come more than a year after Pamela Smith resigned as probate judge in lieu of further disciplinary proceedings by the Judicial Standards Commission.

Asked Tuesday about Pamela Smith’s employment status at OMI, a spokesman for the UNM Health Sciences Center said, “We are not able to answer due to pending litigation.”

The complaints allege that the probate court records granting authority to a special administrator were “filed and altered unlawfully by Pamela Smith,” to give Randy Smith access to Domingo’s bank accounts. The couple used the money to pay their mortgage and other debts, and to improve Randy Smith’s boat repair and consignment sale business, among other things, according to the complaint.

“Pamela Smith, as a probate judge in Sierra County, had a fiduciary responsibility of presiding over an orderly administration of justice,” a special agent wrote. “… Instead, Mrs. Smith committed criminal acts of willful misconduct while serving in office.”

The Smiths could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening. It’s not clear who is representing them in the case.

Pamela Smith wrote in her OMI report that the chief of TorC police indicated Domingo had no next of kin. But in a recorded interview, the chief said he knew Domingo and knew he had family in New York. She also claimed that she received the same answer from a pension fund administrator, the complaint alleges. In fact, that company had sent a condolence letter to Domingo’s sister and nephew.

And Domingo’s nephew, Joseph Paone, told an investigator that he once met Randy Smith as he repaired his uncle’s car.

“Mr. Smith was misrepresenting himself as the special administrator by knowing there were living heirs that should have prevented him from accessing the estate of Dominic Domingo,” his complaint says.

Paone says the Smiths later hired an investigator who offered him a $192,000 “payoff settlement,” which he pointed out to investigators was less than the amount taken from his uncle’s accounts. Domingo’s family learned of his death through a letter from his pension administrator.

Pamela Smith is charged with crimes including engaging in an official act for personal financial gain, tampering with public records, forgery, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Her husband, Randy, is accused of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.

Paone has filed a civil suit against the Smiths, OMI, the Sierra County Board of Commissioners, and the state of New Mexico.

Frances Crockett Carpenter, the Albuquerque attorney representing him, said Tuesday that along with the missing money, the Smiths still have Domingo’s remains.

She said her client’s hope is that no other families find themselves in this position.

“They want to make sure this never happens to anyone again,” Crockett Carpenter said. “That a person that has been given the permission and the privilege to hold office will never see that as anything but that, and that they won’t use their powers of office to commit fraud and steal and do all the awful things that they did.”

Asked whether the Attorney General’s Office believes other families were targeted, a spokesman for the office said he could not comment.

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Complaint: Probate judge used position to raid estate

New Mexico judge accused of stealing from dead man's estate

Judge Pamela Smith

By: KRQE Media

SIERRA COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) - A former New Mexico judge is now facing charges for stealing from a dead man.

Sierra County probate judge Pamela Smith resigned in 2017 after an investigation revealed she abused her power as a judge and OMI field investigator.

Smith is accused of responding to Dominic Domingo's death and identifying her husband as Domingo's next of kin, to gain access to his estate. In all, the couple is accused of stealing more than $280,000 from Domingo.

Smith is charged with "engaging in an official act for personal financial gain," fraud, and forgery.


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New Mexico judge accused of stealing from dead man's estate

Did she use her license to care for elderly couple as a license to steal $179,000?

Sophia Shepherd, aka Sophia Brown Indian River County Sheriff's Office

A Florida woman's certified nursing assistant's license is suspended and she faces four fraud charges after she was accused of using an elderly couple under her care for a $179,000 fraud.

The Florida Department of Health, which dropped an Emergency Suspension Order on the license held since 2009, knows the 30-year-old Vero Beach woman as Sophia Brown. Court documents say that's an alias used by Sophia Shepherd, who is charged with exploitation of an elderly adult from a position of trust for between $20,000 and $100,000; the same charge, but for over $100,000; scheme to defraud a financial institution; and organized fraud for $50,000 or more.

According to the Department of Health's order, Shepherd worked as an independent contractor for Indian River Home Care when she was sent to care for a married couple identified as "A.M." and "M.M." Each had been diagnosed with dementia.

Less than two months after starting work there in August 2016, Shepherd started the con. She'd lie to "M.M." that she used her personal money to buy things for "A.M." and wanted "M.M." to reimburse her. "M.M." would do so by check. The suspension order says Shepherd worked this short con enough from October 2016 to October 2017 to get $23,073.91 out of "M.M."

Then, the suspension order says, Shepherd went after big money.

"On May 5, 2017, Ms. (Shepherd) placed a call and made on online application to American Express, using Patients A.M. and M.M.'s personal identification to make herself a signatory on Patients A.M. and M.M.'s American Express credit card ... without the knowledge or consent of Patients A.M. or M.M. In accordance with Ms. (Shepherd's) request, American Express issued a supplemental card under Patient A.M. and M.M.'s account and in Ms. (Shepherd's) name."

The suspension order adds up the purchases made on the American Express card between May 27, 2017, and Nov. 16, 2017, to $156,254.15. With the checks, that would be a total of $179,328.06.

Indian River Home Care fired Shepherd on Nov. 16. She was arrested May 8. She posted $15,000 bond on May 9.

d more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article211535899.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article211535899.html#storylink=cpy

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Did she use her license to care for elderly couple as a license to steal $179,000?