A San Fernando Valley man was sentenced Thursday to 16 years, eight months in federal prison for playing a key role in a complex identity theft scheme to loot a dead man’s estate via forged documents.
Matthew Kroth, 52, of Studio City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong, who also ordered him to pay $1.94 million in restitution.
According to court documents, the scheme’s participants preyed on vulnerable victims by searching for properties in affluent neighborhoods that appeared unkempt. Using online mapping programs and traveling through nicer neighborhoods, the accomplices looked for algae-filled swimming pools or overgrown shrubs to identify houses with vulnerable victims who were unable to care for their properties.
After finding such a home in Sherman Oaks, Kroth broke into the residence, where an elderly victim lived. At some point in September 2020, the man died — investigators are uncertain how — and the schemers took over the property while his body decomposed.
Rather than reporting the death, Kroth and others left the man’s body in the house while they looted his assets.
The scheme’s leader, Caroline Herrling, 46, of West Hills, used a forged power-of-attorney form so she could pretend to act on the victim’s behalf while stealing his real estate and financial accounts.
Federal prosecutors say participants dismembered and disposed of the victim’s body to prevent the discovery of his death. The remains have never been found.
In October 2021, law enforcement began investigating the case when neighbors reported the victim missing. According to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court, Herrling identified herself to police as a close friend of the victim and his family.
She also was listed as the trustee of the victim’s family trust — which purportedly had been created by the victim’s mother, who died in June 2017 — but in fact was a forgery. She told police that the victim had moved from Sherman Oaks to Carpinteria, which was not true because the victim was already dead.
Kroth received into a joint bank account held with an accomplice most of the proceeds of the sale of another victim’s real estate, which Kroth knew was fraudulent and had been carried out through forgery.
He pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Herrling is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in March 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Another co-conspirator, James Rhys Kantor, 46, a former West Hollywood resident, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 19, at which time he will face up to 20 years in federal prison. Kantor pleaded guilty in October 2024 in downtown Los Angeles to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.