LAS VEGAS (KHN) – A woman used online dating apps to get at least four elderly men to meet with her in person, then poisoned them with sedatives and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in a “sinister” romantic plan, FBI investigators in Las Vegas said Friday.
Authorities said three of the males died, and she was charged with one of their killings.
Aurora Phelps, 43, is arrested in Mexico and is charged with 21 charges, including wire fraud, identity theft, and one count of kidnapping resulting in death, according to Sue Fahami, the acting United States attorney for the District of Nevada.
“This is a romance scam on steroids,” said Spencer Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas Division. One of the four victims, who were targeted in 2021 and 2022, awoke from a coma after Phelps administered prescription sedatives over a week, Evans said.
In one case, Phelps is accused of kidnapping a victim, heavily sedating him, and transporting him across the US-Mexico border in a wheelchair to a Mexico City hotel room, where he was subsequently discovered dead.
Evans claimed that after incapacitating her victims, Phelps stole their automobiles, pulled money from their bank accounts, used their credit cards to buy luxury things and gold, and attempted to access their social security and retirement accounts.
According to the indictment, Phelps met one guy in July 2021, went on lunch dates with him, and in November ordered lunch at his house and gave him a prescription medicine.
According to the indictment, while he was “mostly unconscious” for around five days, Phelps accessed his accounts and stole his iPhone, iPad, driver’s license, and bank cards. She also allegedly entered his E-Trade account and sold Apple shares worth around $3.3 million, but she was unable to withdraw the proceeds.
Authorities suspect Phelps utilized popular dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble to select her targets. According to Evans, the guys were lonely and yearning for company, so they went on several dates with Phelps before she secretly gave them sedatives.
“It’s folks that are out looking for love that ran into something far more sinister,” he joked.
Phelps, a dual citizen of Mexico and the United States, had been on the FBI’s radar for several years, according to Evans. He declined to remark on her criminal record.
According to a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, Phelps does not have a U.S.-based attorney who can represent her. The Associated Press requested a response from Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry and Attorney General’s Office.
When several of the victims’ families were unable to contact their loved ones, they alerted authorities, according to Evans.
According to court records, one woman was unable to reach her father the day after his rendezvous with Phelps in Guadalajara, Mexico, in May 2022. The next day, Mexican authorities discovered him dead on the toilet floor of his home. The indictment states that Phelps then used the victim’s account to purchase a gold coin, among other transactions.
According to Evans, the FBI is aware of several alleged victims in the United States and Mexico, and is making details about the case public, including suspected aliases, in the hopes of locating others who “fell victim to her scams and whose trust in her may have cost them their life.”
The FBI is also working with the Department of Justice and Mexican authorities to get her extradited.
If convicted of all charges, which include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud, three acts of identity theft, and one crime of kidnapping, Phelps may face a life sentence, according to Fahami.
Reference: Woman accused of drugging and robbing older men in a deadly romance scheme