Irvine Woman Pleads Guilty to Stealing From Cancer-Stricken Grandmother

A 36-year-old woman pleaded guilty on June 30 and was immediately sentenced to six months in jail for stealing thousands of dollars from her cancer-stricken grandmother in Irvine.

Lashawn Ellesse Owens pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft. As part of her plea deal with prosecutors, two counts of theft from an elder adult and a count of stealing a vehicle were dismissed, along with sentencing enhancements for aggravated white-collar crime. She was given until Sept. 29 to report to jail and was given credit for 22 days so far behind bars.

Owens was ordered to pay $75,000 in restitution, according to court records.

Owens’s family arranged to have the defendant care for her grandmother, Phyllis Owens, after the 72-year-old was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, according to a report from Irvine police investigator Sarah Voigt.

Phyllis Owens received a settlement of $421,561.69 from injuries suffered in a car crash, Voigt said in court papers.

“Due to the medications Phyllis was taking during this time she was fairly weak, therefore Lashawn facilitated the communication between the bank and Phyllis,” according to Voigt.

The victim thought she was signing documents needed for her granddaughter to help her with banking, but they were cashier’s checks, Voigt said. The defendant allegedly received a $53,900 cashier’s check on December 21, 2022 paid to Tesla, $60,000 paid to the defendant, $2,000 paid in cash and another $10,000 in cash, Voigt said.

“Phyllis told me none of these transactions were approved by her nor had she ever had any conversations with Lashawn which would make her think these types of transactions would be authorized,” Voigt said.

The defendant also convinced the victim to close her bank account and transfer her funds to another bank, where the defendant had an account, Voigt said. The victim transferred nearly $230,000 over to the new bank account, Voigt said.

The grandmother had her family evict the defendant from her home after just a week “because she was scared and intimidated by Lashawn’s actions and the way Lashawn was caring for her,” Voigt said.

When the victim tried to use her new bank card for transactions it would be continually denied, Voigt said. The defendant, who was still on the account, was denying all the transactions and reporting them as fraud, Voigt said.

When the victim eventually straightened things out at the bank, she ended up withdrawing the remaining funds of about $48,000, Voigt said.