SC Couple Charged with Defrauding Mother to Face a Jury

A San Clemente couple charged with stealing $350,000 from the husband's 89-year-old mother is set to face a jury in Santa Ana Monday.

The couple, Peter Garcia, 70, and Virginia Kay Furr-Garcia, 50, have since divorced, but they'll face trial as co-defendants. Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrested the two in August 2011—Garcia’s mother reported the theft to deputies that spring, according to a release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

“Between Jan. 1, 2009, and Sept. 27, 2010, Garcia and Furr-Garcia are accused of conspiring to close four annuity funds belonging to Garcia’s mother, worth approximately $350,000, without the victim’s knowledge or consent,” deputy district attorneys state in the release. “The defendants are accused of closing the accounts and transferring the money into an account held jointly by Garcia and the victim.”

Prosecutors accuse Garcia of moving money from an account he held jointly with his mother into a separate account the couple used to pay for rent, groceries, gasoline, utilities and living expenses.

Garcia’s mother found out about the alleged theft when she came up short on her bills for several months at her assisted living community.

Both Garcia and Furr-Garcia are charged with 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 over $200,000 and aggravated white collar crime over $100,000, the DA’s release states.

If convicted, the defendants both face a maximum sentence of six years in state prison, according to the district attorney’s office.

Opening statements are expected to begin Monday in Department C-35, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined.