Former Professional Trustee of Sacramento-Based Trust Charged with Fraud and Money Laundering

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An eight-count indictment was unsealed on Tuesday following the arrest of Loretta Darlene Stewart-Cabrera, 52, of Sacramento, for her role in a scheme to defraud beneficiaries of a trust she administered as a professional fiduciary, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

On April 26, 2018, a federal grand jury returned an 8-count indictment, charging Stewart‑Cabrera with mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

According to court documents, Stewart-Cabrera was a professional fiduciary who served as the trustee of a trust. The trust owned a Sacramento property. After the trust grantor died in December 2012, Stewart-Cabrera executed a scheme to obtain and spend the trust assets. Stewart-Cabrera did this by selling the trust’s property, distributing to the trust beneficiaries only approximately $30,000 of the more than $300,000 she received from the sale of the property, and spending the remaining money without the permission or knowledge of the trust beneficiaries. At the time, Stewart-Cabrera was in financial distress. She used a portion of the trust funds to gamble and dine in Las Vegas casinos, pay family members, and purchase merchandise.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian A. Fogerty is prosecuting the case.

If convicted of the mail fraud and wire fraud counts, Stewart-Cabrera faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted of the money laundering counts, Stewart-Cabrera faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the money laundering transactions. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.