As expected, the 21-year-old daughter of a Camden real estate agent has been indicted along with two other family members in connection with allegations of creating a fake will for a survivor of the Deepwater Horizon explosion who died in an auto accident in January 2015.
Jordan Alexandra “Alex” Peterson, and her aunt and uncle, Marion “Diane” Kinley and John Wayne Kinley Jr., all face counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud along with Peterson’s mom, Donna Herring, according to the superseding indictment in U.S. District Court in El Dorado. The 16-page indictment was filed on Jan. 11 but not made public until Jan. 27.
In November, Herring was indicted by a federal grand jury in El Dorado on charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. The indictment was under seal until December.
In addition to the conspiracy charge, the Kinleys face one count each of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Herring also now faces a count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The indictment seeks the forfeiture from the four defendants of several pieces of property and more than $700,000 in cash that the government says belonged to the estate of Matthew Seth Jacobs.
The allegations include that Herring created a fake will after Jacobs died in January 2015. The will left nearly all of Jacobs’ assets to Herring’s daugher.
The Kinleys allegedly signed the fake will, indicating that they witnessed Jacobs sign the forged will.
It wasn’t until after the assets of Jacobs’ estate were distributed to Herring’s daughter at the end of 2015 that questions surfaced about the authenticity of the will.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty. Their trial is set for April 3 in U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey’s courtroom in El Dorado.