SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say an Orange County man arrested after police found skeletal human remains in his former backyard has been charged with collecting more than $100,000 in social security checks intended for his dead father.
Prosecutors said in a statement that 65-year-old Larry Thomas Dominguez has been charged with felony theft by embezzlement. His arraignment was postponed Tuesday.
The statement says Dominguez had collected checks worth more than $1,100 apiece for his deceased father Wallace Benjamin Dominguez since May, 2005.
Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna says investigators are presuming the bones are those of the father, but a Tuesday autopsy was inconclusive on the person's identity and cause of death.
A couple doing yard work Sunday discovered the remains at the home where Larry Thomas Dominguez was the previous owner.
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