The U.S. Department of Justice announced an 11-count federal grand jury indictment against Terrance Owens Elliott, a San Bernardino pastor and former City Council candidate, alleging he engaged in fraud schemes targeting his longtime friends and a non-profit that resulted in losses of around $238,563.
Elliott was arrested Thursday, March 6, following a grand jury indictment.
The indictment alleges that Elliott, 60, of Crestline, defrauded friends and a nonprofit out of over $230,000 through various cons. He is charged with 11 counts of wire fraud.
Elliott ran for a City Council seat in San Bernardino in 2022. While his run was unsuccessful, his candidacy caused controversy as his criminal convictions and civil lawsuits related to forgery for passing bad checks and unpaid debts came to light.
One friend, identified by initials M.C., was allegedly defrauded after Elliott, who was claiming he worked for the San Bernardino city government and that he was involved with the city's police department, persuaded her to put her inheritance into a trust and to allow him to establish and administer the trust, federal prosecutors alleged.
Elliott allegedly claimed that M.C. would lose Medicare and Social Security benefits if she received the inheritance directly and created an agreement that would make him a co-trustee.
"The trust provided that its money was to be used for the M.C.'s financial needs during her lifetime and permitted that her funeral expenses were to be paid from the trust with any remaining property being passed to her children upon her death," a DOJ statement read in part.
Elliott then opened a bank account for the trust with himself as the only trustee and provided a "fraudulently modified copy" of the trust agreement to the bank. The modified agreement claimed that he was the only person with the power to make payments from the trust's account and he proceeded to write checks and make online transfers to "Church A," payments that were not allowed under the trust agreements, prosecutors alleged.
Elliott purchased postal orders with money from the trust and used the orders to pay the church's rent and used the account for his own expenses such as a truck repair, sneakers, clothes and a piano, according to the U.S. DOJ.
He also allegedly accessed M.C.'s bank account at a separate bank and used $27,164 of her Social Security payments to pay the church.
"When the victim's family asked Elliott about the trust account or asked for bank statements, he lulled them into compliance by getting upset and telling them that everything was under control," the DOJ stated.
After M.C.'s death, Elliott allegedly got another individual, W.H. to pay $8,615 for M.C.'s funeral expenses, stating that money from the trust could not be used without a judge's approval, which was false.
In total, this particular scheme defrauded M.C., W.H, and two others out of at least $150,263.
In a separate scheme, Elliott allegedly defrauded W.H. by advising him on the sale of a rental property, suggesting that W.H.'s corporation should put $65,000 into M.C.'s trust to avoid paying capital gains tax on the home's sale. He created a loan contract and said he would transfer $65,000 to the trust from the corporation's bank account and that the trust would repay the loan with 10% interest.
Elliott also convinced W.H. to give him signed blank checks from the corporation's bank account, which he allegedly used to transfer money to Church A. Elliott transferred $49,000 to the trust and never paid back the $65,000 loan, ultimately spending the majority of the funds to pay for his personal expenses, the U.S. DOJ release stated.
In another scheme, Elliott allegedly leveraged his relationships with "Church B" and its board of directors to assist with the management of the church's litigation fees and other fees involving Church B and a nonprofit.
"Elliott lied to the nonprofit and Church B's board of directors that the nonprofit owed money to W.H.'s corporation for services rendered related to litigation against them," according to the DOJ.
The nonprofit issued over 30 checks to W.H.'s corporation and Elliott then deposited the checks into a "corporation-related bank account" that he controlled.
A request for comment placed with Elliott's lawyer was not immediately returned Friday.