'Sweetheart Swindler,' Who Convinced Elderly Man She Needed Spinal Transplant, Gets Eight Years In Prison
(CBS) – A female con artist accused of swindling an elderly man of more than $1.2 million through a variety of ruses, including claims she needed a spinal transplant, will spend the next eight years in prison, Illinois State Police said.
Candy Ely, 35, of Chicago first began victimizing her 86-year-old victim by befriending the man at a restaurant five years ago and baited him into thinking she was a love interest, authorities said.
Ely scammed the man, who was 50 years her senior, out of a car and other items. She also led him into believing she needed money for medical procedures, including cancer treatments and surgery and even a spinal transplant, police said.
Her total, alleged take: more than $1.2 million.
Ely pleaded guilty last week to one count of theft of more than $500,000. She was sentenced to eight years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, Illinois State Police said.
Police called Ely "the Sweetheart Swindler."