Calif. Woman Charged With Scamming $285,000 From Nuns

A California woman may have to answer to a higher authority -- a federal judge, that is -- after being charged with scamming a group of nuns out of $285,000 and using the money to pay for items such as lingerie and pet sitting.

The FBI today arrested Linda Rose Gagnon, 57, of Tustin, on three counts of wire fraud for allegedly swindling a group of nuns at the U.S. Province of the Religious of Jesus & Mary Inc. in Rhode Island in a real estate scam.

Authorities say Gagnon operated the California-based Rose Enterprise Inc., a company she claimed helped clients with delinquent mortgages and real estate transactions. She had no real estate license.

According to a federal indictment, Gagnon, a former student of a boarding school operated by the Sisters of Religious of Jesus & Mary, visited the convent in Rhode Island in November 2008 and learned the organization was attempting to purchase a property in San Diego as a residence for nuns. It has residences for nuns all around the country.

Gagnon "represented that she was an expert in real estate transactions and foreclosure sales and offered to assist" the group with the purchase, the indictment said. Gagnon told the group that she would be able to buy the foreclosed property for them directly from the bank before it went to auction, authorities alleged.

Gagnon then used a bogus letter that appeared to be from an attorney and in December 2008 convinced the nuns to wire $285,000 for the purchase of the property, authorities charged.

But instead of using the money for the purchase, Gagnon "knowingly stole and converted all of the money for the use and benefit of herself and Rose Enterprise" between December 2008 and February 2009, the indictment said.

Specifically, the indictment alleged that the money was used for lingerie ( $448), pet sitting ( $2,450), salon/nail services ( $217), mortgage payments ( $32,575), rental payments ( $5,400), car payments ( $1,523) and cash withdrawals ( $39,865). Tens of thousands of dollars allegedly went to employees of Rose Enterprise, including $4,203 to her daughter.

Sponsored Links

At some point in December 2008, Gagnon brushed off requests by the nuns to return the $285,000. She continued to insist that the funds were being held by Rose Enterprise and that it would be used to buy the property, which she was still negotiating, the indictment said.

In March 2009, she informed the nuns that she was attempting to close on the deal, but the funds were tied up in a "double" and "triple" escrow, the indictment alleged.

So she tried to get the nuns to wire an additional $285,000 so she could close the real estate transaction, the indictment alleged.

Authorities said Gagnon surrendered this morning at the FBI office in Santa Ana, Calif.