Boulder City woman scammed out of $250K

Imagine being the victim of fraud that nearly drained your life savings. But instead of that money being stolen by a thief or online scam artist, it was at the hands of a trusted friend.

For Boulder City resident Lynne Crose, she doesn’t have to imagine it – she’s been living the nightmare for the past six months.

“I trusted her, there’s no doubt about it,” Crose said this week from her home. “I was stupid enough to believe her.”

For Crose, the fact there was that trust makes things even more difficult to accept.

“We were more like best friends than employer and employee,” she said. “I trusted her with everything.”

The person she’s speaking of is Esmeralda Mascaro, who had been Crose’s in-home caregiver for more than two years. According to Crose, it’s believed Mascaro stole more than $250,000 during that time from the 77-year-old.

In January of this year Mascaro was arrested by Boulder City Police and on June 25 pleaded guilty in District Court to a lesser gross misdemeanor charge of isolation of an older/vulnerable person, as a result of a plea agreement. She had been facing three felony charges, two of which were for theft of $100,000 or more, according to Boulder City Justice Court records.

Mascaro was sentenced to 264 days in jail but that was suspended and instead was given one-year probation, with credit for 24 days served in jail. She must pay restitution to Crose in the amount of $76,097.17 and must not have any contact with her.

“I think jail would have been great,” Crose said of the sentence. “She’s a crook. That’s just what she is. And she’s a very good crook, so I doubt I was the first person she did this to.”

Mascaro was brought in from hospice to care for Crose’s husband, who was battling cancer, nearly three years ago. One of the last things he requested before he died was that Mascaro stay on and help care for his wife. Earlier that year the couple lost their son, an only child, to a heart attack.

Crose had placed Mascaro on her bank account, which she said resulted in the caregiver writing checks to herself, one of which was for $5,000 and another for $3,000.

“It was a little bit at a time,” she said.

Crose, who taught preschool and later owned her own business before moving to Boulder City 17 years ago, praised the Boulder Dam Credit Union for notifying her late last year of suspicious activity involving her account.

BDCU President and CEO Steele Hendrix said that they do not discuss account activity of their members but did say that fraud is a major issue, one that can often take on different forms.

“Many of the recent policy and procedure changes at the credit union are related to fraud protection and monitoring,” he said. “We have also added additional staff to focus specifically on fraud.

“We encourage all of our members to be diligent in monitoring their account activity, to establish a network of trusted individuals to assist with financial issues, be cautious with any phone or email solicitations, and to contact the credit union directly if you have questions or suspect fraud of any kind. We are here to help but the front line of defense against fraud always starts with the account holder.”

Mascaro had also established a trust in the name of Crose’s late son, talked Crose into allowing her to become her power of attorney and had registered Crose’s car in her own name.

“I should have gone with my gut instinct because I felt like something was going on,” Crose said. “I was an easy target and she took advantage of me.

“Someone who does this type of thing isn’t going to target a younger person, they’re going to target someone my age, especially here in Boulder City. There’s a lot of senior citizens here who have money. Just be very cautious.”

Crose’s current primary caregiver, Kayla Zomerdyk, contacted the Review and in a letter wrote, “Beyond the financial losses, the emotional damage has been profound. Lynne is one of the kindest, most loving, generous, and trusting people I have ever met. Those qualities should have been protected, not exploited. Because of what happened, she has lost not only money and assets, but also her trust in others — a painful lesson for anyone, especially at her age and after enduring the loss of her husband and only child.”