4 women indicted for cheating widow out of about $500,000 in property
The Cuyahoga County prosecutor believes four women stole an estimated $500,000 in assets from a 71-year-old widow in Richmond Heights.
Ryan Miday, a spokesman for the prosecutor, said Diane L. Harvey, 58, was the "ringleader" in an operation that began in October 2005 and ended last September.
She, her 59-year-old sister Patricia A. Harvey, Arcinia Marbury, 45, and Donna M. Smith-Anderson, 54, were indicted Monday on one charge each of theft.
Officials have not arrested the women and are not sure of their addresses, Miday said.
The victim's husband, Irving Buchler, was killed in September 2005. The next month, Diane Harvey and Smith-Anderson approached his widow, Phyllis, and told her they knew Irving through his accounting business, Miday said.
The women convinced Phyllis Buchler to grant them power of attorney over Irving's 28 properties, valued at several hundred thousand dollars collectively, Miday said.
He said the four women offered to buy 11 of Phyllis' properties for $40,000, but only paid her $5,000. They sold one valued at $120,000 and pocketed the $106,000 left after fees, and sometimes they would falsely charge her for maintenance, he added.
Miday did not know how many times the women might have taken money from Phyllis, but he did know that it amounted to about $500,000 in assets.
The investigation began after Phyllis received notices she was defaulting on properties her husband had owned, Miday said. Richmond Heights police are still investigating.
People with information about the defendants can contact the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office at 216-443-6000. Officials think Diane Harvey and Smith-Anderson might be from Tallmadge, while Patricia Harvey is probably from Cuyahoga Falls, Miday said. They did not have a possible hometown for Marbury.
SOURCE: CLEVELAND.COM/METRO
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