The case was shrouded in mystery as investigators pieced together “a tangled, evil web of financial exploitation against the victim,” Brown said in a news conference on Thursday. But Macareno ended up making a series of transactions – including forging documents and establishing fraudulent entities – seeking ultimately to illegally gain control over Alberts’ property, the sheriff’s office said. Macareno was the “central figure in the manipulation and deceitful targeting” of Alberts, Brown said. Investigators then found evidence Alberts became the target of a murder-for-hire scheme, the sheriff said. California has the highest the number of elderly victims of fraud in the country, with $624.5 million in reported losses in 2022, according to FBI Los Angeles.

Source: CNN March 11, 2024 15:18 UTC