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Desiree Boltos, the Texan woman who became infamous as the sweetheart swindler, landed herself in prison with a mammoth sentence for her crimes. The then 38-year-old was allegedly defrauding older men and women by pretending to be in love with them so she could extract money from them.
Here is everything to know about Boltos ahead of the ABC The Con episode, which is set to explore the story of Desiree Boltos and her fraudulent activities.
Why was Desiree Boltos sentenced? Charges and sentence explored
Texas native Desiree Boltos was arrested in 2018 for allegedly swindling elderly people out of their money by pretending to fall in love with them. She even married one of the men she pretended to be in a relationship with, while she was already married to her husband Paul Hill, who was also in on the scam with her.
According to court records, Boltos conned six elderly people, five men and one woman, out of US$1.6 million through a variety of ruses. Initially, the swindler was sentenced to 85 years in prison, but concurrent charges were pressed and more sentences followed.
Boltos was found guilty of five counts of theft and one count of exploiting an elderly person. She was sentenced to 85 years in prison on the first theft count, 75 years on the second theft count, 20 years on the third theft count, 68 years on the fourth theft count, 15 years on the fifth theft count and 10 years on the exploiting an elderly person count. The judgment was passed by the Tarrant County court.
Along with her sentence, the jury also imposed upon her a total of $60,000 fine. She was liable to pay up the sum to compensate the people she had defrauded with the help of her husband Paul Hill.
Desiree Boltos would only be eligible for parole after she spent 21 years serving her prison sentence. She currently remains incarcerated.
All about the upcoming The Con episode
ABC's The Con is a true-crime docu-series narrated by the Oscar-winning Whoopi Goldberg. The series explores stories of fraud and false promises involving financial and romantic entanglements. Exploring crimes like bank fraud and identity theft, The Con brings to viewers new episodes every week.
This week's episode will tell the story of Desiree Boltos, the Texan woman who carried out a sweetheart swindler scam. The official synopsis of the episode reads:
"When 75-year-old retired naval officer Dick Olmstead hit it off with a beautiful woman more than half his age in a parking lot, he thought he was getting a second lease on life. Desiree Boltos, early 30s, confided that she was struggling financially because she had recently become widowed, and Olmstead was very happy to help."
It further states:
"The lifelong bachelor had about $380,000 in his bank account after cashing out his longtime stock investments. When he unknowingly dropped $60,000 into Boltos’ casino cage account at the Bellagio, fraud investigators from his bank in Texas, and later the District Attorney’s office, stepped in to tell him the truth."
Catch the story of the sweetheart swindler on ABC on Thursday, August 11, 2022, at 10 pm ET.
