Joyce Guzman wasn't alone Nov. 21 when she learned that her son had died that day in a Marine Corps training exercise.
Her half sister was at Guzman's home in the Shasta County town of Burney, and according to court records, offered comfort to the 42-year-old Guzman. She assured Guzman that she and her boyfriend would handle the burdensome arrangements and paperwork for Lance Cpl. Kyle Guzman's government life insurance policy.
Instead, the Roseville couple plundered the insurance benefits account of at least $195,350 and spent it on themselves, including two watercraft, a motorcycle and breast augmentation surgery, according to court documents.
Carol Ann Damico and Raymond R. Brogan have been charged in a criminal complaint in Sacramento federal court with stealing the insurance benefits that 21-year-old Iraq war veteran Kyle Guzman left his grief-stricken mother.
Brogan, 41, was detained Saturday by a Marin County park ranger for operating remote-controlled vehicles on a public beach. When the federal arrest warrant was discovered, he was taken into custody.
Damico, 33, was arrested Tuesday at the Roseville residence the couple and Brogan's brother have been renting.
They made appearances Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows, who advised them of the charges, penalties and their rights. They did not enter pleas, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 16.
Hollows ordered Brogan held without bail, "especially in view of his lengthy criminal record and the circumstances of this case." He ordered Damico released to the custody of her mother on a $50,000 unsecured bond, with the condition that she live with her mother in Burney.
Attorneys for the pair had no comment as they left the courtroom.
The couple's MySpace Web site is headlined "Raymond and Carol Ann is lovin' the family," and a section titled "Heroes" reads: "In Loving Memory LCPL Kyle Guzman 03-18-86 to 11-21-07. We will always love you and you will be truly missed."
Kyle Guzman died in a training exercise in San Diego County.
The day after the funeral at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Grass Valley, Brogan and Damico manipulated Joyce Guzman into unwittingly signing a power of attorney in favor of Brogan and, two days later, signing an addendum designating the couple's address as the one to which benefits should be sent, according to an affidavit of FBI Special Agent John Sommercamp on file in federal court.
Damico assured her half sister that Brogan would take care of everything, including her bills, and she did not have to worry, the affidavit recounts.
On the pretense that he was assisting Guzman with her financial affairs, Brogan took possession of a checkbook from Prudential Alliance Bank that gave him access to the insurance proceeds, the affidavit says. It says he induced Guzman to sign several checks by telling her the money would be deposited into her personal account.
"By fraudulently procuring Guzman's signature on some checks and by forging her signature on other checks," Brogan and Damico unlawfully defrauded the banks they dealt with, the affidavit charges.
In reviewing 14 checks drawn on the Prudential Alliance account, Guzman told FBI agents she signed only nine of them, authorized only two of the expenditures, did not write the date, payee or amount on any of the checks and derived no benefit from any of them.
A check for $25,000 payable to Brogan "appears to be signed by Brogan," according to the affidavit.
With one of the checks Guzman signed, Brogan bought $15,850 worth of furniture and had it delivered to the Elk Grove address where he was then living, the affidavit says.
A $13,600 check signed by Guzman was used to pay off a loan on a GMC Denali sport-utility vehicle driven by Brogan, it says.
Two checks totaling $106,900 and signed by Guzman were written to Nagorb Enterprises and Brogan Enterprises, entities associated with Brogan. Nagorb is Brogan spelled backward.
Three checks payable to Damico totaling $18,700 apparently were not signed by Guzman.
"The signature on all three of these checks, although it purports to be 'Joyce R. Guzman,' is distinctly different than Guzman's real signature and thus appears to be a forgery," Sommercamp wrote in his affidavit.
When Guzman became suspicious in February and questioned Brogan, he denied any misappropriation and insisted he was acting in her best interest and investing her money. She demanded proof, and he came up with a bank statement ostensibly showing a trust account had been established in Guzman's name with a balance of more than $177,000.
"I have reviewed the bank statement and believe it to be a forged document," Sommercamp wrote.
The agent's affidavit asserts Brogan has prior convictions for burglary, transportation of a controlled substance, insufficient check funds, domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon.
Call The Bee's Denny Walsh, (916) 321-1189.
