James Valyan Calvert and Allen Weaver. {BSO}
Two men who allegedly befriended a Sunrise woman through a companionship service are accused of stealing her money to pay their own electric and cable bills.
According to Sunrise Police Department arrest records, Anthony Allen Weaver, 39, and James Valyan Calvert, 36, both identified as Deerfield Beach residents in the original Sunrise Police reports, were taken into custody six days apart in October.
According to arrest affidavits, the woman met Weaver and Calvert in April 2020 through Papa Pals, a service connecting people seeking companionship and assistance with helpers in their community.
Police said the men befriended her and helped with tasks around her Sunrise home before allegedly using her bank accounts to pay their personal Florida Power & Light and Comcast bills. Investigators estimated the unauthorized payments totaled $6,892.79.
The reports also state that the men received “dozens if not hundreds” of personal checks from the woman for their services. The reports described those checks separately from the utility payments underlying the theft allegations.
The report indicates the victim is 85. Sunrise Detective David Burstein wrote that she suffered from brain ischemia that impaired her cognitive function.
According to the reports, the woman’s daughter became concerned after her mother discussed her relationship with Weaver and Calvert. She traveled to Florida to investigate and discovered that the men had helped her mother close bank accounts, open new ones and transfer her life savings into new checking accounts.
After the daughter helped secure her mother’s funds, Weaver and Calvert said they were moving away and could no longer assist her, police wrote.
The daughter told investigators that her mother became upset when she learned her accounts had been used to pay the men’s utility bills and said she had not authorized the payments.
Concerned about her mother’s vulnerability, the daughter moved her into an assisted living facility. She then reported the entire ordeal to police.
Calvert was arrested on October 21 and was released October 22 on a $2,500 bond.
Weaver surrendered at the Broward County Main Jail on October 27. His bond was set at $2,500.
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