Embezzlement Scheme
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – A Nuevo man was sentenced to six years in prison last Friday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from seniors whom he persuaded to give him money to invest in a bogus profit-making venture.
Toby David Smith, 59, was arrested on July 3 following an investigation into a nearly two-year fraud scheme perpetrated by Smith, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Smith was charged with four counts of financial elder abuse, two counts each of money laundering and grand theft and a sentence-enhancing allegation of targeting multiple individuals in an embezzlement scheme. He pleaded guilty to all four charges.
According to a bail-setting affidavit filed in July by sheriff’s Investigator Lance Colmer, Smith came under investigation in April following complaints by the adult daughter of a 71-year-old Nuevo resident, Cynthia Cadena, who had written a series of checks to the defendant beginning in May 2022.
Colmer alleged Smith convinced Cadena, with whom he attended church, that he could generate windfall profits from an investment vehicle operated by his company, Reserve Strategies, which was determined to be fake.
Smith made the same claims to other fellow churchgoers, Frank and Stacy Maqueros of Nuevo, and they agreed to commit funds to Reserve Strategies, the affidavit stated.
According to the narrative, Cadena wrote a total of five checks amounting to $742,936, while the other victims committed close to $200,000.
“Toby Smith systematically transferred, depleted, spent and laundered nearly all of the money via personal spending at restaurants, travel, bills and retail purchases,” Colmer wrote. “He was laundering the money by transferring funds to 10-plus banks and financial platforms. He transferred at least $60,000 of … (the victims’) money to two crypto-currency companies, Coinbase and Binance.”
At the outset of the investigation, the detective said he served warrants to freeze assets in the accounts, but virtually all of the funds were gone.
The affidavit said after Smith was taken into custody, he waived his right to remain silent and agreed to be questioned, admitting “his fiduciary relationship with the victims … and that he embezzled and spent the victims’ money on personal expenses.”
“Smith admitted he has little to no outside income and no reliable or consistent income,” according to court documents.
Smith has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.
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