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Two guilty, two in court for elder fraud in Pleasanton

Original post made on Jul 19, 2013

With one recent Pleasanton case of senior abuse closed, another is continuing to wend its way through the court system. On July 12, an Auburn woman was allowed to go free after serving 10 months in jail for working with her husband to steal nearly half a million dollars from his 86-year-old mother. A jury in Hayward found D'Arsi Champlin, 48, guilty of 11 felonies.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Thursday, July 18, 2013, 6:51 AM

Comments (7)

Posted by Mike
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Jul 19, 2013 at 2:25 pm

So sad.

Mike


Posted by Mary
a resident of Carlton Oaks
on Jul 20, 2013 at 11:35 pm

What? Ten months? Are you kidding me?


Posted by Vincent
a resident of Canyon Creek
on Jul 22, 2013 at 10:45 am

Ten years would be more appropriate.


Posted by Pleasanton Resident
a resident of Bonde Ranch
on Jul 22, 2013 at 11:30 am

Messier is scum. He declared bankruptcy, yet was the 2nd highest paid employee for the city of Pinole. His wife dyed her hair platinum blond, hoping to confuse the victim in court. I hope these people are found guilty, and get the maximum sentence. They really preyed on this woman. And to think, Messier was a cop. What a dirtbag.


Posted by Concerned Citizen
a resident of Downtown
on Jul 24, 2013 at 8:44 am

Yes, I agree, Messier is complete SCUM! He met his victim for the first time in January 2012. By March of that year (2 months after meeting her), he had created a trust that she was coerced into signing that basically gave everything to Matt and his wife when she dies. It’s my understanding that she clearly expressed many times to her friends her wishes to donate the property to the City of Pleasanton (or state) to keep as a “museum” when she dies.
And yes, I did hear that his wife “Betsy” (Elizabeth Regalado) did dye her hair stark blond. However, I would probably do the same thing if everyone hated me too. She is also SCUM!

Regarding Messier’s salary, he actually earned the top salary in 2012. On June 24, 2013, the Pinole-Hercules Patch published an article called “The Highest Paid Employees At City Hall In Hercules and Pinole”. In that article, it showed that Matthew Messier (Pinole Police Commander) had the highest income in 2012 for Pinole of $235,353. Not too shabby given that Matt was put on leave from the Pinole Police department in July/August 2012 and resigned in October/November 2012 as a result of his “extracurricular activity”. So basically, he earned $235K for ½ year of work. And he was committing this “alleged” crime while he was still employed.

Let’s hope these two (especially Messier) go to prison for a long time. He’s an ex-cop and won’t do too well in prison. I would absolutely hate to be in his (or her) shoes right now. Then again, I would never try and rip off an 83-year old woman either. I honestly don't know how they sleep at night.



Posted by dazed and confused
a resident of another community
on Jan 21, 2015 at 6:59 pm

I was really shocked at this crime. To look at the whole picture, this ex-poiceman worked for the city of pinole. What about the county seat? Martinez? Does not all authorization of properties come from Martinez? Futhermore, how did this person get infomation for Housing when working for the Police department? How many other people are involved in this network? Besides, no one looked in the city of Martinez for this person name or his wife or their family members. Finally, Is this ex-policeman using the money he allegedly scammed from the elderly to free himself? As a famous musician stated: "What's going On"...


Posted by john doe
a resident of another community
on Mar 31, 2015 at 8:23 pm

I went to elementary school with this Messier. One of the nicest guys you would ever meet. HIs father was a LT. for the Sunnyvale PD. Messier was def. not raised this way. Tragic. Pure greed. Over 235k a year and its still not enough!!!


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