Florida Man Scams Girlfriend Out Of $100K+ From HELOC Account, Say Court Docs

In St. Petersburg, Florida, The Tampa Tribune reports:

• A 43-year-old St. Petersburg man defrauded his girlfriend out of more than $100,000, most of it by persuading her to open a home equity line of credit ["HELOC"], according to court documents released [earlier this month]. Richard Butler was arrested [...] on a charge of scheming to defraud. Bail was set at $50,000.

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• Butler persuaded his girlfriend to open a line of credit to provide him $20,000 so his home would not be foreclosed upon, according to the documents. She opened a $150,000 line at her bank, SunTrust, and gave him $28,000, the documents state. [... Subsequently,] he persuaded her to put her name on a signature card for his bank account at Colonial Bank, though she didn't bank there, according to the documents. When he got his hands on checks for the home equity line of credit, he would sign her name or his name and hers and then deposit the money in the Colonial account, the documents state. He deposited $97,000 in the account at Colonial before withdrawing it for personal use, the documents state.

For more, see Beau's Scam Netted $100,000, Files Say.