Las Vegas woman accused of romance scams faces theft, fraud charges in Arkansas

BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — The District of Nevada United States Attorney’s Office is accusing a Las Vegas woman of carrying out romance scams primarily targeting older men between July 2021 and December 2022. The same woman also faces credit card and theft charges in Benton County, Ark. for a 2019 incident.

Aurora Phelps, 43, is charged with multiple federal crimes, including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, identity theft, kidnapping, and kidnapping resulting in death. She is currently in custody in Mexico.

Phelps would allegedly meet older men on dating websites in a scheme to drug them, gain access to their financial accounts, and steal their money, the attorney’s office said. 

After U.S. Attorney Sue Fahami and FBI Special Agent Spencer L. Evans announced Phelps’ charges on Feb. 21, the FBI Las Vegas Division said they were looking for additional victims of Phelps. She also reportedly went by Aurora Flores, Aurora Velasco, and Aurora Alvarez. 

Her Arkansas charges stem from a June 2019 incident in which a woman accused Phelps of drugging her and stealing her credit card. The woman, who had reportedly been friends with Phelps for three years, met her at a Hilton Garden Inn and brought three beers. The woman said she left her beers unattended at some points and later became drowsy and unable to move her body.

When the woman woke up, she could not find her wallet. However, later that same day, Phelps stopped by the woman’s residence and returned her wallet and phone. A couple of days later, the woman realized her credit card was missing and began receiving alerts from her credit card company to verify charges of up to $5,000, the affidavit says. 

When the woman tried to cancel her card, the credit card company said another woman was trying to get a new card sent to a Las Vegas address. The woman contacted Phelps about the credit card, and she denied taking it and making purchases. 

Detectives with the Bentonville Police Department looked into transactions at the Hilton Garden Inn, which reportedly showed the card was used to purchase $1 at the front counter on June 11, 2019. The transaction was tied to the room under Phelps’ name. Upon further investigation, detectives also discovered the stolen credit card was used to purchase an Allegiant flight from Northwest Arkansas to Las Vegas. 

“Her current case is currently open, but it’s on failure to appear status,” Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Sexton. “We’re working with her local bonding company to track her down.”

Court documents filed on Oct. 17, 2024, show her Arkansas hearing was postponed to March 12, 2025, as she is in a “Mexico jail on murder charges.”

“Obviously, we’ve got new additional information now to inform the court she’s got another court date in March,” Sexton said. “I’m not 100% sure that she’ll be back in the state of Arkansas by then. My expectation is it will take some time.”

Sexton also said there is also a second case in Benton County dating back to 2017 that was reopened in 2019 after the fraud and theft charges were brought against her. 

“The revocation case is based on a probation plea that she gave on a filing a false police report out of Rogers,” Sexton said.

That hearing is also set for March 12, 2025.  

As she faces more serious allegations in Nevada, Sexton said they are waiting to see how things play out before getting her to Benton County. 

“First, we’ll be waiting to see one, if she’s subject to release. Two, if she clears those charges,” he said. “Either way, we’ll maintain a hold and do what we can to bring her back to Benton County to get justice for our victims here.”

However, the prosecuting attorney’s office will be keeping a close eye on the federal case to make any necessary changes to its case. 

“We’re monitoring the federal case closely to determine if there’s any fold over, potentially in our case, or if we need to review our charging decision and make appropriate changes to our particular case at this point,” Sexton said. 

Potential victims of Phelps or those with additional information about the federal investigation are encouraged to fill out a short form on the FBI’s website.