Con man arrested for swindling thousands out of a grandmother

An 81-year-old woman was swindled out of thousands from someone she thought was her friend.

Patricia Bagby befriended David Aranda back in February 2016 because she was lonely. Then, there weren’t any signs that he would turn around and empty her bank accounts.

Many said the 42-year-old came across as a determined business man to the people around him.

“He came across as really quiet,” said Kelly Zielinski. “We’re next door neighbors, so he seemed like a hardworking guy because I’m here almost everyday and I saw him over there pretty much everyday.”

Zielinski owns the store Something Borrowed, which is next door to Aranda’s salon, which is now closed. According to the arrest report, Bagby was loaning Aranda money to help get his salon going.

That soon spiraled into businessman tricking the woman out of her own money.

“It’s actually really heartbreaking to find out that somebody like that, that’s in that close proximity, that I’ve known for the last year, has done that to somebody,” Zielinski said.

Aranda told his victim that he would keep an eye on the stock market for her and help her invest her money, the report said.

Bagby later found out that Aranda pocketed the money and opened several credit cards in her name, the report said.

The arrest report says Aranda also bought a Cadillac under Bagby’s name. Aranda also created a GoFundMe page asking for $50,000 to help with Bagby’s cancer treatment.

“It’s heartbreaking to know that there’s people out there in the world that take advantage of elderly people or anybody in general,” Zielinski said.

Bagby told police that her accounts were depleted, the report said.

Aranda was arrested when he tried to sell the Cadillac because it came up as stolen, according to the report. He charged with crimes against person (exploitation of elderly) and fraud-illegal use of credit cards.

Aranda has been released from jail on bond and is expected to be in court Jan. 16.