Grandmotherly Woman, 81, Accused of Swindle

A grandmotherly 81-year-old Van Nuys woman who was convicted six years ago of attempting to swindle then-President Ronald Reagan is now charged with stealing a portion of an elderly neighbor’s life savings.

Ann Roberts, described by a prosecutor as looking “like anybody’s grandmother,” has a record of forgery convictions dating back to 1940, prosecutors said. She faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 9 on charges of grand theft.

Roberts is accused of bilking Mildred Hendricks, 74, out of $2,000 last June with tearful claims that she needed money to buy a headstone for a recently deceased aunt, Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew W. Diamond said.

Hendricks told Los Angeles police that Roberts claimed she was worth $13 million and would repay the money and an additional $1,000 as soon as funds became available, Diamond said.

Hendricks called police after the $3,000 check Roberts wrote her in repayment for the loan bounced, Diamond said.

“You walk by her on the street and she looks just like anybody’s grandmother,” Diamond said. “She has a criminal record going back a half a century” for theft, embezzlement and fraud.

Roberts has pleaded not guilty to the charges. “I didn’t do anything,” she said in a telephone interview. “When I get to court I will prove that everything is a lie. I’m a nice, honest lady and if you met me, you’d say the same thing.”

Roberts’ attorney, Philip Nameth, said the case should be handled in civil court. “But for the fact she was involved in the Reagan case, this matter would not be filed as a criminal offense,” Nameth said.

Roberts and her husband, James Yarborough, were convicted six years ago of opening escrow on Reagan’s former residence in Pacific Palisades with a phony, postdated cashier’s check and other documents to make it appear they were multimillionaires. She used the name Ann Yarborough at the time.

She also pleaded guilty to swindling two banks, a dentist and her maid and chauffeur out of more than $350,000, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Adalbert T. Botello.

Roberts used fake court orders indicating that she would inherit large sums of money from her late ex-husband and doctored financial statements and money orders to persuade people to make temporary loans, Botello said.

She was sentenced to three years and four months in prison and her husband, who prosecutors said was a follower in the scheme, received three years probation.

“I think her age and gender made it easier for her to steal from people,” Botello said. “People want to believe an elderly woman who fits the image of their grandmother.”