Date: July 19, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Martinsburg, WV — A Florida woman has been charged in a scheme to steal from an elderly West Virginia man who suffered from dementia. Wendy Renee Bunner of Spring Hill, Florida, was indicted today for money laundering and lying to a federal agent. Bunner is alleged to have aided and abetted her husband, Samuel Bunner, in obtaining a $280,318.73 cashier's check from a United Bank account belonging to the victim in order to purchase real property in Charles Town, West Virginia. Wendy Bunner is also charged with lying to a federal agent about the sale of a condominium in Hawaii that once belonged to the victim. Samuel Bunner was originally charged in May with wire fraud, bank fraud, identity theft, and money laundering. He is now joined by his wife in a superseding indictment which alleges that together they befriended the victim when all three were living in Charles Town. Samuel Bunner obtained a power of attorney from the victim and then he and Wendy Bunner used it to enrich themselves by selling the victim's real estate, emptying his investment and bank accounts, and opening a credit card in his name, causing a total alleged loss to the victim of more than two million dollars. The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eleanor Hurney is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Jefferson County Prosecutor's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida and FBI-Tampa assisted with the matter. An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
