Remember the creepy and kooky case against Larry Thomas Dominguez, who was charged with fraudulently collecting his father's Social Security and pension benefits after dad's bones were discovered in Lyin' Larry's former backyard in Santa Ana?
The 66-year-old, who apparently believed he'd get away with it simply by instructing the new homeowner not to dig up a certain part of the yard, pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to six years in state prison.
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Wally Benjamin Dominguez had lived with his son in the North Hesperian Street home at the time of the old man's death in May 2005, when he was in his 80s. The son later sold the home but through January of this year he collected his father's $1,100 monthly Social Security benefits as if ol' Wally was still among us–to the tune of $92,000. Lyin' Larry also collected more than $4,500 from his deceased father's pension in a Washington Mutual account, forged Wally's signature on checks and opened numerous credit cards under dad's name.
Larry Thomas Dominguez Likely Buried Dead Dad and Got $100k of His Social Security: Cops
The scam unraveled on Jan. 27, when the current residents of the abode ignored Larry Dominguez's instructions and dug up part of their backyard for remodeling. That's when human bones were discovered and the Santa Ana Police Department was called.
That led detectives to Larry Dominguez's new home in a Santa Ana mobile home park, where he was initially arrested on suspicion of homicide pending Wally's cause of death, which later was determined to be from natural causes.
After his arrest, I discovered a naked Larry Dominguez had refused to leave the North Hesperian house as it was engulfed in fire in 2006, until a neighbor grabbed him some pants.
Larry Thomas Dominguez Goes From Nude Fire Victim to Arrestee After Human Bones Found
They'll be looking up his pants size at the DOC due to his guilty plea to two felony counts of grand theft by embezzlement, one felony count of forgery, two felony counts of identity theft, two felony counts of forging an access cardholder's signature, and sentencing enhancements for aggravated white collar crime over $100,000 and property loss over $65,000.
Worse than the prison stretch for someone used to paying mobile-home park fees: Dominguez must re-pay more than $97,000 in restitution. Which means that for burying dear old dad, Lyin' Larry will be buried in debt. Thank you very much; I'll be here all week.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
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.