A California couple has been charged with stealing $3 million from a mentally ill man
A couple with ties to Fresno have been charged with stealing nearly $3 million from a man nearing the end of his life and then trying to take another $20 million after his death, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Authorities arrested Anthony David Flores, 46, of Fresno last week, and Anna Renee Moore, 39, was arrested Tuesday after flying to Houston from Monterrey, Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a statement.
Flores, also known as Anton David, pleaded not guilty last week in California, while Moore appeared in court in Texas but pleaded not guilty, according to prosecutors.
Both are expected to appear in a Los Angeles court in the coming weeks.
They were indicted by a grand jury on December 15. It was not immediately clear if they have lawyers to represent them.
Flores, a barber, and Moore, who owned the defunct Fulton Yoga Collective in Fresno, met in 2017 with the ophthalmologist and investor, who had a mental illness that left him unable to care for himself, prosecutors said.
Flores also owned a window cleaning business and Moore was an actress, according to the statement.
“A few days after meeting the victim, Flores and Moore moved into the victim’s beach house in Malibu — for free — and gradually took control of his life, posing as his new ‘best friends’ and caregivers,” the statement said.
Flores told the victim’s elderly mother, who lived in Florida, that they cared for him and were “looking out for the victim’s best interests,” according to the indictment, which did not name the victim.
Flores later had the victim sign a power of attorney and opened bank accounts in the victim’s name, according to prosecutors.
Over the course of several months, Flores and Moore diverted the man’s money to their own bank accounts, “isolated the victim from family and longtime friends, and provided the victim with drugs, including marijuana and LSD,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Prosecutors said the two allegedly gave the doctor LSD in the last days of his life, causing his mental state to deteriorate.
Flores also allegedly changed the phone number and security settings on the doctor’s $60 million online brokerage account to gain access to it and transferred $2 million to his own bank account.
By now, the man had evicted the couple from his home, but they installed cameras in the beach house and watched his deteriorating condition from the luxury hotel, prosecutors said.
After the victim died in May 2018 at age 57, Flores and Moore returned to his home and began withdrawing large sums of money from his account, prosecutors said.
The indictment did not say how he died.
Flores and Moore are charged with crimes including conspiracy, identity theft, mail fraud and money laundering.
If convicted on all counts, they could face decades in prison.