Bilking Pair Go Back to Jordan

Two brothers who pleaded guilty to swindling a woman with dementia out of more than $1 million returned to their native Jordan after driving to the American consulate in Tijuana to renounce their U.S. citizenship, authorities said.

Ismat Sabha, 49, of Granada Hills, and Nashat Sabha, 47, of Los Angeles, then flew to Mexico City to board a flight to the Middle East on Thursday night.

Authorities said Ismat Sabha masterminded the schemes to romance and cajole at least three women out of millions of dollars in assets. Nashat Sabha helped guard the victims and carry out the schemes. The brothers pleaded guilty May 5 to stealing more than $1 million from Anne Kelly, 85, of West L.A.

“They were careful to pick people who recently lost spouses or were starting to show signs of dementia so they could really take advantage of their vulnerabilities,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Powers. “They would ... make them believe that they ... would always take care of them.”

For six months, the brothers, with the help of other people -- including Nashat Sabha’s wife, Guadalupe -- “baby-sat” Kelly in her home, limiting her movement and contact with other people, said Special Agent John Rocha, the lead case investigator for the federal Department of Homeland Security.

“There were no shoes and no pants in the apartment,” Rocha said. “Apparently they had taken all her clothes so she wouldn’t walk out.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said the brothers owned Star Market, a liquor store in West L.A., where they met their victims.

The men obtained credit and debit card information from purchases the women made at the market. The brothers persuaded women to sell property, in one case after convincing a woman that her duplex was haunted, local and federal authorities said.

Guadalupe Sabha pleaded guilty to helping with the thefts and served six months in state prison. Anita McKinnon, 89, a West L.A. woman who started out as a love-struck victim 12 years ago and ended up transferring money to Jordan and helping to guard Kelly, also pleaded guilty and served four months in prison, Powers said.

After McKinnon’s husband died, Ismat Sabha started courting her, Powers said. “He promised to marry her. He gave her a ring that probably came from someone else’s estate.”

Ismat Sabha stole at least $1.5 million from McKinnon, Rocha said.

“Once she recognized her money was stolen, she thought the only possibility to get it back was to cooperate, even though she knew it was wrong,” he said.

A third victim, whose name was not released, lost at least $500,000, authorities said.

A nephew of the brothers, now suspected of trying to run Kelly down with his car, was deported to Jordan, Rocha said.

As part of their plea, the brothers were sentenced to seven years in prison, which was suspended when they agreed to return more than $1 million and to other conditions of probation, including that they not leave the U.S. More than $1.1 million of the money taken from Kelly was returned, authorities said.

In a rare request, the brothers asked to renounce their citizenship so they could return to Jordan. Because the renunciation of citizenship can occur only at an American embassy outside the United States, an exception was made to their agreement and they were permitted to leave the country. The brothers drove to Tijuana on Wednesday, leaving Guadalupe Sabha behind.

Authorities said the brothers’ scheme began to fall apart early last year when a customs agent in Memphis discovered a $100,000 personal check bound from Ismat Sabha to his brothers to Jordan. Since 9/11, agents have opened packages mailed to the Middle East, authorities said.