Woman, 87, bilked out of home by self-styled bishop, D.A. charges
A man who once ran a South L.A. church is charged with theft, and two other people are accused of helping in the alleged scheme. The woman signed over the deed to her Claremont home, officials say.
A self-proclaimed bishop has been charged with bilking an 87-year-old Claremont woman out of her $800,000 home, Los Angeles County district attorney's officials said today.
Leroy Dowd, 71, tricked the victim into signing over the deed to her home, which was paid in full, by telling her that he could help the woman obtain widow's benefits from Medicare and Social Security, prosecutors said.
Dowd at one point ran the now-defunct Triumph Church of God in South Los Angeles, said district attorney's spokeswoman Shiara M. Davila. She said it's unclear if he was ever officially ordained or simply described himself as a bishop.
Dowd was charged Wednesday with grand theft, identity theft and forgery. Two other people -- Bessie Mae Moore, 61, and Alexander Trevino, 31 -- are accused of helping secure financing to pull off the scheme.
Prosecutors said investigators are also examining whether Dowd stole the identities of deceased people he encountered through a funeral home he ran in Los Angeles, Dowd and Gonzalez Funeral Directors.
If convicted, the three could be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.
jack.leonard@latimes.com
