A 43-year-old woman has been charged with allegedly luring, drugging, and attempting to steal millions of dollars from elderly men she met on dating websites. The Las Vegas woman, who was arrested in Mexico, was also charged with kidnapping an elderly man, which resulted in the man’s death.
In a Friday press release, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada wrote, “A Las Vegas, Nevada, woman has been charged in a 21-count superseding indictment for allegedly luring older men she met through online dating services and stealing their monies for her personal benefit.”
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada announced that the 43-year-old suspect, who is a dual-citizen of the United States and Mexico, faces seven counts of wire fraud, six counts of bank fraud, three counts of identity theft, three counts of mail fraud, one count of kidnapping, and one count of kidnapping resulting in death. U.S. officials also confirmed that Phelps currently remains in the custody of Mexican law enforcement officials.
According to the press release, Phelps could face up to life in prison if she is convicted on the charges outlined by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada noted that Phelps engaged in her robbery scheme from July of 2021 to December of 2022 and used various dating websites to connect with “older men” before arranging to meet with them in person.
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“It was part of her scheme to drug the older men to gain unauthorized access to and steal money from their financial accounts to personally benefit herself and her family members,” Friday’s press release stated.
According to The New York Times, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials claimed that the suspect’s scheme led to at least three deaths. Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Las Vegas, noted on Friday that the investigation remained “ongoing” and that the suspect could face additional charges. Evans described Phelps’ scheme as a “romance scam on steroids.”
“It’s probably, in recent history, the worst one that we’ve seen,” Evans stated. “But for meeting with Phelps, all of these folks would be alive.”
The indictment against Phelps includes a list of four victims, all of whom were in their 60s or 70s. The indictment accused Phelps of using a deceased victim’s bank account days after his body was found in Mexico. In another incident, Phelps was accused of stealing roughly $3.3 million in Apple stock from one of her victims.
In addition to the four victims included in the indictment, court documents obtained by The New York Times indicated that the “government believes that other victims exist and need to be identified.”
A picture of Phelps has been shared on X, formerly Twitter.
