A San Bernardino pastor and onetime city council candidate was arrested this week on suspicion that he swindled longtime friends and a nonprofit corporation tied to another church out of more than $230,000, according to federal authorities.
Terrance Owens Elliott, who was arrested Thursday, has been charged with 11 counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The 60-year-old Crestline resident has pleaded not guilty and is free on a $9,000 bond.
Elliott’s federal public defender did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
According to the indictment, from October 2019 to February 2023, Elliott — representing himself as working in the San Bernardino city government and being involved with the police department — defrauded several longtime friends.
Elliott allegedly convinced one friend, identified only by her initials, M.C., to place inheritance money into a trust that he would establish and administer. He claimed that she would lose her Medicare and Social Security benefits if she received the inheritance directly, according to the indictment.
The trust, for which Elliott was co-trustee, provided that the money would be used for M.C.’s financial needs during her lifetime and for her funeral expenses, according to the indictment. Any remaining property would pass to M.C.’s three children upon her death. More here