Posted on 06/24/2014 2:36:00 AM PDT by markomalley
A woman accused of defrauding an elderly World War II veteran of more than $2.6 million confirmed everything police and prosecutors said about her crimes was true.
“I took advantage of that man,” a tearful Donna Iman said at a mitigation hearing Monday in Pima County Superior Court. “I got greedy.”
Iman pleaded guilty to fraudulent schemes and artifices in connection with defrauding 93-year-old Thomas Gerbing from 2010 to 2012.
Testifying before Pima County Superior Court Judge Teresa Godoy, Tucson Police Detective Nicole Greene said Iman, 47, met the victim through the church they attended.
As their friendship grew, Greene said, Iman began to play on Gerbing’s sympathies by claiming to suffer from numerous medical conditions.
Gerbing, a World War II veteran and retired U.S. Air Force colonel, was a widower for several years before meeting Iman. Greene said Iman began to profess the same health conditions that claimed Gerbing’s wife, including seizures and later pancreatic cancer.
Gerbing began giving Iman tens of thousands of dollars, believing she was having various medical procedures and surgeries. In addition, he gave her $4,000 per month to pay her bills after she convinced him she no longer could work because of debilitating medical conditions.
“What we discovered about what Donna was actually doing at this time in 2011 was that she traveled to Florida to see a NASCAR race, she had cosmetic surgery and bought some land she was going to build a house on at the base of Mount Lemmon,” Greene said.
Iman also bought cars for her children and many expensive home furnishings for the house, which was never built.
Police investigators tracked the requests for money to help pay for the supposed medical conditions through emails Iman and Gerbing exchanged. They also inspected Iman’s bank records, which showed numerous transfers of money from Gerbing’s account.
Iman’s medical records showed most of the conditions she told Gerbing she had were made up, with the exception of seizures.
Greene said Gerbing had fallen in love with Iman, even requesting she marry him.
But it was all an apparent ruse to defraud him of his hard-earned life savings, Greene said, as Iman not only did not marry Gerbing but instead married a different man in the midst of her scheme to live a life of luxury at Gerbing’s expense.
She has since divorced.
Iman is scheduled for sentencing Monday, June 30.
Such a lovely church lady——
Does ‘Thou shall not steal’ ring a bell in her ears? Now she winds up with nothing this little conniver. This is elder abuse. Karma is rarely instant but it does show up eventually.
I would say something, but my mom raised me not to say those words.
I hope they throw the book at her. And I hope she goes to a very hot place.
Anyone who takes advantage of a veteran, and a senior citizen, clearly has no soul.
Out of all the sad things I’ve read on here, this one really upset me.
My father, a once supremely confident and competent vet, turned uncertain and hesitant in his 80’s. We had to keep him away from salesmen. He’d buy the damndest things he didn’t want and couldn’t use, a $1,500 vacuum, for example. He asked me to go car shopping with him. The salesman picked out a car he wanted to sell and started hard-selling. My dad didn’t want it but it was obvious he’d buy it if pressed. Since the salesman had his phone number and I’d be going home hundreds of miles away I took my dad to the car and said, “I’ll be right back.” I went in, smiled at the salesman and said, “He’s an old man. You could browbeat him into buying the car. But if you do, I’ll come back and discuss it. Do you understand?” He never called. But when people get this old they’re vulnerable.
She’s all teary eyed now because she was caught. What a rotten person. The story doesn’t say, but the Veteran is probably deceased by now.Pity no one in his family was able to intervene, assuming he still had a family connection.
The article does not say if he had any children.
If he had, I wish they had been monitoring his finances.
My 84 year old mother bought some item for $500.00 which I knew about but the bank called me to tell me that an unusual amount of money had been withdrawn from the account. My mom did not spend a lot of money. I was always grateful that the bank employee called me.
Good for you. God bless your dad.
It’s true what you say, I see it with my 91 year old Father.
I am thankful that he has the good sense to ask me to ‘look into this mail’ regarding those damn scams they send out saying you’ve ‘won’ 100K, just send a check for 5.99!
When I do poll watching at senior centers, I am the opponents worse enemy, I am fierce in defending the elderly. I hope this woman spends decades behind bars.
In Californicate the ‘Volunteer Visiting Nurses’ used to relieve the elderly of anything not nailed down.....
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