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Man gets 10 years for defrauding WWII veteran
| By: Bill Curtis 5:45 PM Thursday, April 26th, 2007 Viewed 359 times. Rating: 0 |
An ex-convict who befriended an ailing World War II veteran and was then named as beneficiary of his estate was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for elder fraud.
The sentence resulted from a deal Joe Gonzales, 53, struck with prosecutors in February, when he pleaded no contest to eight counts of grand theft resulting from his dealings with John Whittaker, of Antioch.
Gonzales was accused of persuading Whittaker, who suffers from dementia, to give him $350,000 and to rewrite his will so Gonzales would inherit his estate.
Friends testified at Wednesday's sentencing hearing that the two men had a deep friendship and that prosecutors mistakenly assumed Gonzales had taken advantage of Whittaker.
Contra Costa Times
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