A Las Vegas woman accused by the FBI of drugging and defrauding men out of thousands of dollars is facing charges in Benton County, Arkansas. 43-year-old Aurora Phelps has been indicted on 21 counts, including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud, three counts of identity theft, one count of kidnapping, and one count of kidnapping resulting in death. If convicted on all counts, she could face life in prison.
In Benton County, Phelps is also charged with theft of property and fraudulent use of a credit card stemming from a 2019 incident.
Phelps was reportedly in custody in Mexico as of February 21, according to the FBI’s Las Vegas office.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada said Phelps allegedly targeted older men on dating websites in a scheme to drug them, access their financial accounts, and steal their money. The FBI confirmed that three of her alleged victims died, with Phelps facing charges in connection to one of the deaths.
“This is a romance scam on steroids,” Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division, said during a press conference on February 21.
One of the four victims targeted in 2021 and 2022 was reportedly sedated with prescription drugs over the course of a week before he regained consciousness from a coma, according to Evans.
The FBI is actively seeking more victims. Authorities noted that Phelps used multiple aliases, including Aurora Flores, Aurora Velasco, and Aurora Alvarez. A website has been established by the FBI for individuals to submit information related to the investigation.
A map presented during the press conference outlined areas where Phelps was known to have resided, including Bentonville, Arkansas.
“As you’ll see, we know there are certain centers of activity where Aurora Phelps is known to have resided – in Arkansas, here in southern Nevada, and then in central Mexico. This is where we have victims that we believe have been identified,” Evans said.
2019 Arkansas Incident
In 2019, Phelps was accused of drugging a woman and stealing her credit card after they met at a Benton County hotel. According to a probable cause affidavit, the woman had been friends with Phelps for three years before the alleged incident. She reportedly purchased three beers at the hotel bar but briefly left them unattended.
The woman reported feeling drowsy and unable to move before she woke up to find her wallet missing. Later that day, Phelps returned the woman’s wallet and phone but the woman soon noticed her credit card was missing. She received alerts from her credit card company about charges exceeding $5,000.
Attempts to cancel the card revealed that another woman had tried to have a new card sent to an address in Las Vegas. When the woman confronted Phelps, she denied taking the card or making any purchases.
Investigators from the Bentonville Police Department traced a $1 charge made at the hotel’s front desk to Phelps’ room. Further investigation revealed the credit card had been used to purchase a flight from Northwest Arkansas to Las Vegas.
Phelps had been sentenced to three years of probation in 2018 for filing a false report with a law enforcement agency. Her probation was relocated in July 2019 following charges for theft of property and fraudulent use of a credit card.
She was ordered to appear in Benton County court multiple times, but each appearance has been delayed. A court filing from June 2024 indicated that Phelps was set to appear in court in October, but she was reportedly in jail in Mexico for an armed robbery and was being investigated for federal murder charges.
Phelps is now scheduled to appear in Benton County court for her charges on March 12, according to the latest filing.
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