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Woman Lured, Drugged and Stole From Older Men in Deadly Scheme, U.S. Says

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Woman Lured, Drugged and Stole From Older Men in Deadly Scheme, U.S. Says

A 43-year-old Las Vegas woman has been arrested in Mexico on charges that she lured at least four older men on dating websites, drugged them and tried to steal millions of dollars from them in a deadly scheme, the authorities said Friday.

The woman, Aurora Phelps, was charged with one count of kidnapping resulting in death in the scheme, which the F.B.I. said had led to at least three deaths.

Spencer L. Evans, the top F.B.I. agent in Las Vegas, said Friday that the investigation was “ongoing” and that Ms. Phelps might face more charges in the United States and Mexico.

In one case, Ms. Phelps drugged a man in Las Vegas after meeting him online, took him to Mexico City and used his credit card to rent a hotel room, where he died, according to a 21-count indictment unsealed this month.

Ms. Phelps pushed the man, who was “zonked out of his mind” on drugs, in a wheelchair as they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border at a pedestrian crossing, Mr. Evans said in an interview on Friday.

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She took her daughter on the trip to Mexico City, in November 2022, according to the authorities. She had drugged the man during a lunch in Las Vegas one day after meeting him on an online dating service, according to the indictment, filed in federal court in Nevada.

Mr. Evans said that Ms. Phelps had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars in a “romance scam on steroids.”

“It’s probably, in recent history, the worst one that we’ve seen,” Mr. Evans said. “But for meeting with Phelps, all of these folks would be alive.”

Ms. Phelps carried out her scheme at least from July 2021 to December 2022, taking her victims’ tech devices and bank cards, according to the indictment.

In one case, she used a victim’s bank account to buy a gold coin, days after the victim had been found dead in the bathroom of his home in Guadalajara, Mexico, court papers said.

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In another case, she sold around $3.3 million in Apple stock belonging to a different victim and unsuccessfully tried to steal more than $3 million from his E-Trade account after drugging him, according to the indictment.

Court papers said that she had stolen Social Security payments and a BMW from one victim after meeting him at a Hard Rock hotel in Guadalajara.

All four of the victims mentioned in the indictment appeared to be in their 60s or 70s, and the man who survived emerged from a five-day coma after being heavily drugged, Mr. Evans said.

Ms. Phelps has been charged with one count each of kidnapping and kidnapping resulting in death, seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud and three counts of identity theft.

Ms. Phelps, who remained in custody in Mexico on Friday, faces up to life in prison if she is convicted, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Las Vegas said.

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She was arrested by the Mexican authorities, the office said. The authorities declined to say when Ms. Phelps had been taken into custody.

She could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday, and it was unclear if she had a lawyer. Prosecutors wrote in court papers this month that she had been presented with an extradition warrant and that she “may challenge her extradition.”

Although the indictment described four victims, prosecutors wrote in a request to unseal the indictment, dated Feb. 10, that the “government believes that other victims exist and need to be identified.”

Ms. Phelps, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen who was born in the United States, has lived in Nevada, Arkansas and Guadalajara, according to the F.B.I.

Mr. Evans said the F.B.I. had identified at least 10 victims, including one in Arkansas. The names of the victims have not been released.

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Ms. Phelps was indicted after a two-year investigation by the F.B.I., which started with a missing-person report, Mr. Evans said.

“We’re still looking for additional evidence,” he said, adding, “I’m hoping that someone sitting back and reading the newspaper or watching TV, it might jog their memory and say, ‘Hey — that might be my uncle that disappeared, or my father, or grandfather.’”

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Video: Behind the Supreme Court’s Push to Expand Presidential Power

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Video: Behind the Supreme Court’s Push to Expand Presidential Power

new video loaded: Behind the Supreme Court’s Push to Expand Presidential Power

For more than a decade, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has chipped away at Congress’s power to insulate independent agencies from politics. Now, the court has signaled its willingness to expand presidential power once again.

By Ann E. Marimow, Claire Hogan, Stephanie Swart and Pierre Kattar

December 12, 2025

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Europe’s rocky relations with Donald Trump

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Europe’s rocky relations with Donald Trump

Gideon talks to Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s former secretary-general, about Ukraine and Europe’s strategic priorities after recent scathing criticism from US president Donald Trump over its failure to end the war: ‘They talk but they don’t produce.’ Clip: Politico

Free links to read more on this topic:

The White House’s rupture with the western alliance

Trump pushes for ‘free economic zone’ in Donbas, says Zelenskyy

Friedrich Merz offers to host Ukraine talks so deal not done ‘above Europe’s head’

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Ukraine’s ‘fortress belt’ that Donald Trump wants to trade for peace

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Trump announces pardon for Tina Peters, increasing pressure to free her though he can’t erase state charges | CNN Politics

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Trump announces pardon for Tina Peters, increasing pressure to free her though he can’t erase state charges | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he is granting Tina Peters a full federal pardon, which is likely to increase the pressure campaign to free the former Colorado clerk from state prison even though he cannot erase her state charges.

“Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections. Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

Peters, the former Republican clerk of Mesa, Colorado, was found guilty last year on state charges of participating in a scheme to breach voting systems that hoped to prove Trump’s false claims of mass voter fraud in 2020. She was sentenced to nine years in prison and is serving her sentence at a women’s prison in Pueblo, Colorado.

Peters is currently the only Trump ally in prison for crimes related to the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. She still believes that election was stolen, her lawyers recently told CNN. Her lawyers have also raised concerns about her physical safety and told a judge that her health is declining behind bars.

Trump’s pardon has no legal impact on her state conviction and incarceration. But the administration has been pressuring Colorado officials to set her free or at least transfer her into federal custody, where she could be moved into a more comfortable facility. The Justice Department even stepped in to support Peters’ unsuccessful attempt to convince a federal judge to release her from prison.

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After months of hearings and legal filings, a federal judge in Denver rejected her federal lawsuit seeking release on Monday, concluding that state courts are the proper venue for her to challenger her conviction.

Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in a statement defended Peters’ conviction. “No President has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions. This is a matter for the courts to decide, and we will abide by court orders,” he said.

Polis has previously said he won’t pardon Peters as part of any quid-pro-quo deal.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat who is fighting to uphold Peters’ conviction and keep her behind bars, also dismissed the pardon in a statement.

“The idea that a president could pardon someone tried and convicted in state court has no precedent in American law, would be an outrageous departure from what our constitution requires, and will not hold up,” Weiser said.

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One of her lawyers sent a letter to Trump earlier this month, making the case for a pardon. Those efforts were successful at securing a symbolic clemency action from Trump, however, only Polis has the power to pardon Peters for her state crimes and set her free.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.

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