California man pleads guilty to scamming elderly women out of nearly $2 million

Troy Van Sickle, 55, of Temecula, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and lying to the government after federal prosecutors said he conned two elderly women out of roughly $1.9 million. He posed as a romantically interested businessman to a wealthy Los Angeles divorcee, then spun a fake miniature car company and fabricated multimillion-dollar contracts to extract $150,000 toward what became a $650,000 Ferrari.

Prosecutors say he coached the woman to lie to the FBI, delete texts, and sign a false promissory note recasting the fraud as a loan. He also submitted a falsified financial disclosure to his probation officer, hiding the money, the cars and his casino winnings, all while serving supervised release for a 2021 mail-fraud conviction with nine other victims.

He now faces up to 30 years and owes restitution to both women. His attorney declined to comment.

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