A Santa Ana jury Monday found a former couple guilty of stealing $330,000 from
the husband's then-89-year-old mother.
Peter Garcia, 70, and Virginia
Kay Furr-Garcia, 50, both of San Clemente, each now face up to six years in prison at their March 22 sentencing.
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The Garcias were
still married between Jan. 1, 2009, and Sept. 27, 2010, when they conspired to close four annuity funds belonging to the man's
mother without her consent. The
money was first transferred into a joint account held by Garcia and his
mother, and then to one he held with his then-wife. They spent the $350,000 they stole on groceries and household bills. Yes, Muncier, it does cost that much to live in California.
When the old lady, who is now 91, could not
pay her bills at an assisted-living facility, she discovered she'd been
cleaned out and contacted the Orange County Sheriff's Department, which
arrested her son and then-daughter-in-law in August 2012.
Both were convicted Monday of one felony count each of grand theft, conspiracy to defraud another
of property, conspiracy to commit forgery, and theft from an elder with
sentencing enhancements for property loss more than $200,000 and aggravated
white-collar crime more than $100,000.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.