Federal authorities say that a preacher in San Bernardino who used to run for city council was arrested this week on suspicion that he stole more than $230,000 from longtime friends and a nonprofit organization connected to another church.
As of Thursday, Terrance Owens Elliott was being held and was charged with 11 counts of wire theft by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The Crestline man, 60, has pleaded not guilty and is now free on a $9,000 bond.
Elliott’s federal public defender did not answer right away when asked for a response on Saturday.
The accusation says that Elliott lied about working for the city of San Bernardino and being involved with the police department from October 2019 to February 2023 in order to scam several longtime friends out of money.
Elliott is said to have persuaded a friend, whose name was only given as M.C., to put family money into a trust that he would set up and manage. The indictment says that he told her that if she got the inheritance directly, she would lose her Medicare and Social Security payments.
According to the accusation, Elliott was a co-trustee of the trust that said the money would be used to meet M.C.’s financial needs while she was alive and to pay for her funeral. If M.C. dies, any land that is still there will go to her three children.
The indictment says that when Elliott started a bank account in the trust’s name, he put himself down as the only trustee and gave the bank a faked copy of the trust agreement that said he was the only person who could make withdrawals from the account.
Elliott is accused of sending checks and online payments to a church called “Church A” that were against the terms of the trust agreement. The accusation says that he also bought postal money orders with trust money to pay the church’s rent.
Elliott is also said to have used some of the money for personal things, like fixing up his Chevy truck, buying Nike sneakers, a piano, clothes, and an extra warranty for his motorcycle.
Federal authorities say Elliott also reportedly got into M.C.’s account at a different bank and sent the church about $27,164 worth of her monthly Social Security payments.
The indictment says that when M.C.’s family asked Elliott about the trust account or bank records, he “lulled them into compliance by getting angry and telling them that everything was under control.”
Elliott reportedly tricked someone else, identified as W.H., into paying a little more than $8,600 for M.C.’s funeral costs by lying that he needed a judge’s permission before he could release money from the trust account.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Elliott reportedly stole a little more than $150,200 from four people, including M.C. and W.H.
In June 2021, Elliott is said to have helped W.H. sell a house, which is when another alleged scheme started. The indictment says that Elliott falsely told W.H.’s company that lending $65,000 to M.C.’s trust would help them avoid capital gains tax on the sale of the house after it had been sold.
Elliott allegedly made a loan agreement between the company and the trust and told W.H. that he would move $65,000 from the corporation’s account to the trust’s account with the promise that the trust would repay the loan with 10% interest per year. He is also said to have persuaded W.H. to give him several blank checks from the company’s bank account that were signed.
According to the accusation, Elliott used one of the blank checks to send $16,000 to Church A without permission. Elliott is said to have given the trust $49,000 but never paid back any of the $65,000 loan.
In a different alleged scheme that happened from September 2018 to June 2021, Elliott is said to have used his connections with a church, only known as Church B, and its board of directors to help handle legal fees and other costs that involved them and a company, only known as Nonprofit Corporation A.
The indictment says Elliott lied to the nonprofit and Church B’s board of directors about the fact that the nonprofit owed W.H.’s company money for work done in connection with a lawsuit against them. Because of this, the nonprofit gave the company about 32 checks, which Elliott is said to have then deposited in a bank account he controlled.
Elliott is said to have stolen about $23,300 from the charity.
Authorities say Elliott’s plans cost his victims a total of about $238,563.
The San Bernardino Sun said that Elliott ran for a city council spot in 2022 but lost. His campaign also revealed that he had been convicted of crimes and was facing civil lawsuits.
Elliott could go to federal jail for up to 20 years for each count if he is found guilty.
