Judge awards $548K to estate of scammed Indiana veteran

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana judge has awarded nearly a half-million dollars to the estate of a generous veteran who got scammed.

A Howard County judge ordered Patsy Liali and her son, Mario Liali, last week to pay $548,600 in restitution to Jim Carter's estate.

The Kokomo Tribune reports that Indiana's attorney general's office had sued the Kokomo woman and her son, alleging that Carter was working for Kokomo's City Plan Commission in 2013 when Patsy Liali asked him for money to help with her son Mario's college student loan expenses.

Carter agreed and by the time of his death in September 2015, he had made $134,655 in payments to the pair, who allegedly spent the money on themselves.

Online court records don't list attorneys who could speak on the Lialis' behalf.

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Information from: Kokomo Tribune, http://www.ktonline.com