She took $5 million from an elderly man with dementia. A Fresno judge sent her to prison
Calling Christina Alvarado callous, uncaring and greedy, Judge Alvin Harrell III sentenced her on Thursday to five years in prison for siphoning more than $5 million from a Fresno man with dementia.
“I just don’t understand how greedy someone can actually be to not give a hoot about how it impacts the victim,” Harrell said. “Millions of dollars have been taken and lost. It is incredulous.”
Alvarado, 50, was accused in court documents of befriending David Silnitzer, a 75-year-old widower, in order to gain his trust, confidence and ultimately access to his wealth, estimated at about $6 million. Alvarado withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars from his bank accounts. She cashed in his stocks and even sold his house.
With the proceeds from her scheme, she bought herself and her daughter a house. She paid off another daughter’s $150,000 student loan. And what she didn’t buy, she gambled.
Alvarado’s defense attorney, Kojo Moore, disputed the allegations and was pushing for probation for his client. Although Alvarado pleaded no contest to charges of theft from an older adult and unauthorized use of personal identifying information, she denied in court Thursday that she stole Silnitizer’s money.
She also agreed to pay $5.5 million in restitution.
She said they were in a relationship and he was well aware of what was happening with his money. When asked by the judge if she believed Silnitzer has dementia, she said no.
“He put himself on a plane to visit someone in Arizona,” she said.
Silnitizer’s granddaughter Heidi Plowman said that what breaks her heart the most is the loss of personal mementos from her grandparents when Alvarado sold their home in Old Fig Garden. She also is saddened at the time lost between she and her grandfather. Plowman alleges that Alvarado turned him against his family by claiming his departed wife was speaking through her.
“The fact that you played on his grief and his lack of ability to reason to pretend to channel my grandmother makes me sick,” Plowman said.
Plowman said she and her grandfather have since reconciled.
Deputy District Attorney Douglas DiCicco and Fresno County’s deputy public guardian, Joshua Cochron, said during Thursday’s sentencing hearing that this is the most severe case of elder theft abuse they have seen in Fresno County.
“This was a sustained campaign to take everything she could from this vulnerable individual,” DiCicco said.
Gambling out of state
Cochron said Silnitzer, a former probation officer, suffers from a degenerative brain disease that affects his ability to make decisions. When he first met Silnitzer in January 2019, he found him living alone and confused; food in the refrigerator was rancid. Silnitzer told Cochron that Alvarado was out of the state gambling.
Prior to meeting Alvarado in 2016, Silnitzer’s investments were providing him with a comfortable living. Cochron estimates Silnitzer was receiving $30,000 a month and nearly $400,000 a year.
“Since meeting Christina, most of the stocks have been sold, the real estate is gone and he has tax liabilities in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Cochron said. “In the two and half years she knew David, she gambled away millions of dollars that belonged to David. It’s gone.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
