MEXICO CITY — Aurora Phelps, a 44-year-old American who used dating apps to charm older men, and then looted their finances, has been sentenced to 37 years in prison in a Mexican court for the disappearance of an American retiree whose body was found dumped along a road outside of Guadalajara.
Phelps, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, hooked up with divorced and widowed men decades her senior on both sides of the border, using Tinder, Plenty of Fish and other dating apps.
Authorities say she sometimes drugged the men, gained access to their finances and drained their savings and retirement accounts.
Phelps was originally charged with homicide in the death of Robert Erbach, 67, but this month a judge in Guadalajara convicted her of a crime known as “disappearance committed by private individuals.”
Under Mexican law, the penalties for that crime are potentially greater than homicide — there is no death penalty in Mexico — and the judge opted for the disappearance offense.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 75 years in prison. The judge convicted and sentenced her on June 5.
In recent years, tens of thousands of people have gone missing in Mexico, which explains the emphasis on the disappearance statute, which is used when a person or criminal organization deprives someone of liberty and conceals the victim’s fate or whereabouts.
Erbach spent decades in the Bay Area and had owned a concert staging company in the United States before retiring to an ex-pat community near Guadalajara. Erbach went on a date with Phelps to the Hard Rock Hotel in Guadalajara in December 2021 and then disappeared.
Mexican authorities found Erbach’s body alongside a road outside the city two days later, and determined he had been asphyxiated. More than 2 years would pass before his remains were identified.
After Erbach disappeared, Phelps drove his BMW SUV north to Las Vegas where she opened a bank account using his information, and drained his accounts of $50,500, court documents show.
Phelps was born in Arkansas and spent part of her youth in Guadalajara. She eventually moved to Las Vegas where, according to the FBI, she met another older American man who later turned up dead in Mexico.
Last year the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas charged Phelps with 21 criminal counts, including identity theft and fraud and two counts of kidnapping, one resulting in death.
“Aurora Phelps targeted older men by drugging them and stealing from them,” the FBI said in a statement after her conviction. “The FBI believes there could be additional victims who may have been affected by Ms. Phelps. If you have information or know someone who may have been a victim, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
In a profile of Phelps in The Times, Christopher Delzotto, FBI special agent in charge in Las Vegas, described her as a psychopath. “She truly believes her lies,” he said. “She visualizes all of this stuff. She believes it. It has become her reality.”
Mexican authorities have already approved her extradition to the United States, but it’s unclear when such a transfer would occur.
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