(21 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Las Vegas – 21 February 2025
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sue Fahami, Acting United States Attorney District of Nevada:
“We’re here today to announce criminal charges against Aurora Phelps, a 43 year old with residencies in Las Vegas and Guadalajara, Mexico. Miss Phelps is in custody in Mexico. She is charged in a 21 count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury, alleging that she conducted a romance scheme to steal money from older men she met on online dating services.”
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sue Fahami, Acting United States Attorney District of Nevada:
“The superseding indictment charges Miss Phelps with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud, three counts of identity theft, one count of kidnapping and one count of kidnapping resulting in death."
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Sue Fahami, Acting United States Attorney District of Nevada:
“From July 1st, 2021 to December 9th, 2022. Miss Phelps met older men on dating websites or services, then met them in person. It was part of her scheme to drug the older men to gain unauthorized access to, and steal money from their financial accounts to personally benefit herself and members of her family.”
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4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sue Fahami, Acting United States Attorney District of Nevada:
“The extradition proceedings began in Mexico after Miss Phelps was taken into custody there. She remains in custody in Mexico for crimes she committed against individuals identified in this investigation. An extradition warrant has since been issued by a court in Mexico, and has been presented to Miss Phelps, who may challenge her extradition.”
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5. SOUNDBITE (English) Spencer L. Evens, FBI Special Agent in Charge:
“The charges being unsealed today relate to crimes Phelps is alleged to have committed against four male victims. However, the FBI has become aware of multiple additional potential victims, male and female, both in the United States and Mexico, that we believe Phelps preyed upon over a period of more than three years.”
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6. SOUNDBITE (English) Spencer L. Evens, FBI Special Agent in Charge:
“With regard to the four victims identified and outlined in the indictment, we believe Phelps connected with each of them through an online dating application, so she could lure them into her confidence under false pretenses and then drug them with dangerous doses of prescription sedatives or other controlled substances. Once she incapacitated her victims, Phelps stole their cars, access their bank and brokerage accounts to withdraw cash, used their credit cards to make a variety of purchases, including luxury retail goods and gold, and even attempted to access their Social Security and retirement accounts.”
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7. SOUNDBITE (English) Spencer L. Evens, FBI Special Agent in Charge:
“All of the victims listed in this indictment are U.S. citizens. Two were residents of the state of Nevada when they encountered Phelps and were drugged by her. We believe Phelps kidnapped one of these victims by heavily sedating him and pushing him across the US-Mexico border in a wheelchair due to his inebriated state. Phelps then took him to a hotel room in Mexico City, where the victim was found dead a few hours later.”
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8. SOUNDBITE (English) Spencer L. Evens, FBI Special Agent in Charge:
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9. SOUNDBITE (English) Spencer L. Evens, FBI Special Agent in Charge:
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STORYLINE:
She has been charged in one death.
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