A Camarillo man faces a lengthy prison sentence after perpetrating a years-long series of thefts and frauds against older members of a Carpinteria church and others.

Brett Edward Lovett, 53, is due in Superior Court in Santa Barbara on June 7 for sentencing by Judge Pauline Maxwell.

A jury in March convicted Lovett of 29 felony counts, including engaging in fraudulent securities schemes, theft from an elder or dependent adult, grand theft, theft by false pretenses, first-degree residential burglary, forgery and money laundering.

Jurors acquitted Lovett of seven other charges, but found true special allegations that he committed aggravated white collar crimes, and that his victims’ losses were more than $500,000.

Investigators with the California Department of Insurance arrested Lovett in October 2017, culminating a 15-month probe.

He was released on bond shortly thereafter, but was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail after a hearing last week. He is being held without bail.

The Santa Barbara County Probation Department recommended Lovett be sentenced to 24 years and eight months in prison in a pre-sentencing report, .

Prosecutors are requesting a sentence of more than 28 years, according to Casey Nelson, senior deputy district attorney.

Lovett’s Crimes Occurred between 2010 and 2016

Lovett’s crimes, which occurred between 2010 and 2016, involved five victims, some of whom were left homeless and destitute by his actions.

After befriending his victims, Lovett would encourage them to turn over their funds to him to invest, claiming he could get them high returns with low risk, according to investigators.

He often would get them to sign promissory notes and powers of attorney allowing him to conduct their financial affairs.

“He then misappropriated the funds for his own personal use, and/or to repay some of the victims who pressured him to refund their money,” according to the pre-sentencing report from the Probation Department.

Some Victims Belonged to Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Two of the victims belong to the Carpinteria Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which Lovett also had attended before being forced out.

“According to investigators, Lovett was known to befriend congregation members at church in order to take financial advantage of them,” the report states. “In addition, investigators noted that he had taken financial advantage of individuals who contacted him for legal assistance.”

Investigators discovered that Lovett’s pattern of financially defrauding individuals and members of the church he attended dated back to 2002.

In 2007, doing business as Northwest Asset Fund, he was ordered to pay more than $635,900 in restitution and sanctioned in a fraud action brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to the report.

“Between October 2002, and August 2005, Lovett fraudulently solicited at least $495,000 from at least four individuals affiliated with his church, purportedly for trade commodity futures, through false promises of high returns with a low risk investment,” the report states.

In the current case, Lovett was convicted of crimes against two church members — an 80-year-old woman and a 71-year-old man.

Also victimized were a 48-year-old Sacramento woman who was getting divorced; a 48-year-old Yuba City woman who had sought help sorting out her deceased mother’s estate; and the estate of a 48-year-old Orange County woman.

Victim Told Investigators, ‘I Lost Everything’

In the pre-sentencing report, one victim was quoted as saying, “I lost everything but the clothes I was in. I lost my family, my friends, two congregations. He told so many lies. He was one of those people that everyone liked. He tells people what they want to hear.”

Another victim told probation officials that at one time he considered Lovett his best friend whom he “trusted up to the end.” 

Now, he considers Lovett “a psychopath or sociopath who believes his own lies.”

A third victim, who was forced to vacate her apartment and is now subsisting on Social Security and welfare payments, said, “I’m an old woman now without a means. He destroyed me.”

Probation Recommended Restitution of $453,541 to $551,309

Probation officials recommended that Lovett be ordered to pay restitution to his victims totaling $453,541 to $551,309. 

“This former licensed insurance agent preyed on innocent senior citizens to line his pockets with no regard for his victims’ wellbeing,” said state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara in a press release. “Thanks to the hard work by my department investigators and the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, his victims will have justice.”  

Asked why the case took so long so be completed, Nelson told Noozhawk there were multiple factors, including court slowdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and several changes of attorneys on both sides.