LAS VEGAS According to FBI investigators in Las Vegas on Friday, a lady utilized online dating apps to get at least four older men to see her in person. She then gave them sedatives and took hundreds of thousands of dollars in a nefarious romantic plan.
She has been accused of being responsible for one of the three men’s deaths, according to investigators.
At a press conference, acting US attorney Sue Fahami stated that Aurora Phelps, 43, who is now being held in Mexico, is charged with 21 charges, including identity theft, wire fraud, and one count of kidnapping resulting in death.
According to Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division, this is a romantic fraud on steroids. After receiving prescription sedatives from Phelps for a week, one of the four victims—who were targeted in 2021 and 2022—woke up from a coma, Evans continued.
In one case, Phelps is accused of abducting a victim by giving him a lot of sedatives, transporting him in a wheelchair across the U.S.-Mexico border, and then taking him to a hotel room in Mexico City, where he was discovered dead.
Evans claimed that after rendering her victims incapable of defending themselves, Phelps took their vehicles, took money out of their bank accounts, bought gold and luxury goods with their credit cards, and even attempted to access their retirement and social security funds.
The indictment claims that in July 2021, Phelps met a man, they went on lunch dates, and in November, Phelps had lunch to be delivered to his home and gave him a prescription medication.
According to the indictment, Phelps obtained access to his accounts and took his bank cards, driver’s license, iPhone, and iPads while he was largely comatose for almost five days. Additionally, she allegedly sold Apple shares worth roughly $3.3 million through his E-Trade account, but she was unable to receive the proceeds.
Authorities think Phelps found her targets by using well-known dating applications like Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble. According to Evans, the guys went on several dates with Phelps before she surreptitiously gave them sedatives because they were lonely and seeking company.
He claimed that many who were searching for love have encountered something much darker.
According to Evans, the FBI had been keeping an eye on Phelps, a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, for a few years. Regarding her criminal past, he remained silent.
Phelps does not have a lawyer in the United States who could represent her, according to a Department of Justice official. The Associated Press sent messages to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and Foreign Affairs Ministry requesting comment.
When they couldn’t reach their loved ones, Evans added, a number of the victims’ family called the police.
According to court documents, one lady couldn’t get in touch with her father the day after he went out with Phelps in Guadalajara, Mexico, in May 2022. He was discovered dead on his home’s bathtub floor by Mexican police the next day. The indictment then claims that, among other transactions, Phelps bought a gold coin using the victim’s account.
According to Evans, the FBI is making details about the case public, including possible aliases, in an effort to find more people who were duped by her and whose faith in her may have cost them their lives. The FBI is also aware of additional claimed victims in the United States and Mexico.
In order to get her extradition, the FBI is also collaborating with the Department of Justice and Mexican authorities.
Phelps faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty on all charges, which include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud, three counts of identity theft, and one crime of kidnapping, according to Fahami.
-The Associated Press, by Ty Oniel, Jesse Bedayn, and Sejal Govindarao.
