MESA, AZ — An auto repair company owner is charged after reportedly defrauding an elderly Mesa woman of $2,000,000.
The Arizona Attorney General has charged Donaldo Parra, age 44, with fraudulent schemes and theft.
Investigators say Parra owns and operates an auto body shop in Mesa.
Parra is accused of defrauding over $2,000,000 from an elderly Mesa woman over the past 13 months.
The woman hired Parra to repair her 2006 Jaguar after an accident. The victim paid him over $80,000 up front for the repairs, after Parra said he would get her reimbursed from her insurance company.
He later allegedly told her he was having trouble getting the money from her insurance company and she needed to sue them for reimbursement.
He convinced her to use an attorney that he would hire for the job, telling her she could get a settlement from the insurance company of about $8 million.
Court documents show that the "victim depleted her savings and wired hundreds of thousands of dollars out of her retirement accounts."
A Mesa bank teller became suspicious when the victim, who was 'visibly shaking,' went to the bank to withdraw $40,000 in cash and noticed that she had been withdrawing "thousands of dollars in cash over the past several weeks."
The teller contacted Mesa police.
Detectives researched the attorney Parra said he was using and determined that no attorney existed. They also contacted the woman's insurance company who allegedly told them there was no lawsuit on file.
ABC15 has also discovered that Parra was arrested in 2015 by the Arizona Department of Insurance Fraud Unit for identity theft and insurance fraud.
Parra was accused of filing fictitious glass claims to insurance companies.
