
Angelita Rodriguez, a 44-year-old resident of San Jacinto, was arrested by members of the DA Bureau of Investigation-led Real Estate Fraud task force and charged with embezzlement of an elder and forgery.
Rodriguez, who also goes by the last names Kurmen and Reyes, has entered a not guilty plea.
According to the Riverside County District Attorney’s office, the family of the 72-year-old victim in this case said he is experiencing cognitive problems. The victim’s son contacted the county Treasurer’s Office after finding out about the nearly $40,000 in past due property taxes the office said his father owed.
The son explained that his father had paid Kurmen to stop the sale of his property and had a Treasurer’s Office letter that his father was on a payment plan. The Treasurer’s Office told him the letter was a forgery.
An investigation by a DA’s investigator on the task force determined that the victim had been paying Kurmen for about a year and that she told the victim she had filed a lawsuit against the county and negotiated a payment plan, but he had to make the payments to her and not the county.
The investigation revealed that there was no such lawsuit or payment plan with the county and that the victim had paid Kurmen $82,400, according to the District Attorney’s office.