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OREGON CITY, Or. -- An Ohio man who stole an elderly woman’s life savings was sentenced to 48 months in prison Monday. His sentencing comes two years after his guilty plea.
Jimi Terell Ward, 49, pled guilty in Clackamas County Circuit to two counts of Aggravated Theft in the First Degree and Aggravated Identity Theft in the First Degree in September 2023.
After his guilty plea, Ward was allowed to remain out of custody until his sentencing the following month. He failed to appear and fled to Ohio. He was arrested there in February 2025 and held at the Clackamas County Jail. Earlier this year Ward tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his guilty plea.
Ward met the victim when she was 71 and he was 42 and working as a used car salesman. The woman had inherited some money and Ward convinced her to invest $60,000 in a house-flipping deal. The money represented a substantial portion of the woman’s life savings.
Ward used her money to purchase real estate in Walla Walla, Wash., for $196,000 and sold seven months later for $279,000 but did not repay the woman. Ward sent her checks, but they all bounced. He also convinced her let him use one of her credit cards for “property upgrades.”
Ward then unlawfully obtained other credit and debit cards from the woman and maxxed them out.
Ward stole the victim’s money, destroyed her credit and left her on the verge of homelessness, Deputy District Attorney Josh Cutino told Circuit Judge Heather Karabeika who presided over the sentencing.
The woman, now 78, is in poor health, unable to work and has relied on friends for financial assistance.
The victim, who has had two hip replacements and walks slowly with the aid of a cane, spoke bluntly about the devastation Ward caused her.
“I worked 50 years for my retirement. I was financially secure with income property. Then I met you. It took you less than a month to swindle me out of my life’s work,” she told Ward. “You got it all, every last penny I had.
“I learned the hard way that trust can easily be shattered, and financial stability can vanish overnight. Jimi, you ruined what’s left of my life,” she said. “It’s now looking like I will have to file for bankruptcy. It is gut-wrenching for me to end my life like this.”
Ward told the judge that he didn’t have the money to repay the victim. “If there was a way to pay her back, I would have,” Ward said.
“I’m so sorry she’s going through what she’s going through. It was never my intent to take anything from her,” Ward said. “I feel terrible about it.”
A restitution hearing is set for Dec. 15. The victim says she was swindled out of around $250,000. Ward maintains he owes her around $100,000.
Cutino said the state is able to prove that the victim’s losses are at least $166,000.
Clackamas County Circuit Court case 21CR43669
