A Las Vegas woman currently in Mexican custody was charged Friday on 21 counts for her alleged scheme to drug victims she met on dating sites so that she could access their financial accounts.

Aurora Phelps, 43, a resident of both Las Vegas and Guadalajara, Mexico, is charged with one count of kidnapping resulting in death, one count of kidnapping, three counts of identity theft, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud and seven counts of wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada said in a release.

Specifically, Ms. Phelps is accused of using prescription sedatives to keep victims knocked out for days at a time. 

This resulted in at least three deaths, and a fourth victim was in a coma for five days after he was purportedly sedated by Ms. Phelps, FBI Las Vegas Field Office Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans said according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

From 2019 to 2022, Ms. Phelps, who also went by the surnames Flores, Velasco and Alvarez, met victims online and exploited other victims she knew offline. She is accused of drugging some victims to get information about their bank, retirement and Social Security accounts.

These victims were mostly older men, but did include people in other age groups as well as women, the FBI said in a release.

In addition to drugs, Ms. Phelps is also alleged to have fooled victims into thinking she was in a romantic relationship with them, the U.S. attorney’s office said. 

Some of the alleged crimes took place in Mexico. Ms. Phelps is accused in court documents of going on a date in May 2022 in Guadalajara with one victim, who was later found dead at his residence. In the days following, Ms. Phelps purportedly used the deceased’s money to have a gold coin sent to her residence.

On another occasion in November 2022, Ms. Phelps is accused of kidnapping a victim from Nevada and taking them to Mexico to hold him for ransom. This resulted in the victim’s death, according to court documents.

If convicted on all 21 counts, Ms. Phelps faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison. She is currently undergoing extradition proceedings to move her from Mexico to the U.S. to face trial.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.