Kristopher Brent Cobb sentenced to over 3 years in federal prison
A man from Marina del Ray was recently sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for exploiting the identities of a married couple who had died days earlier. He fraudulently obtained more than $137,000 by illegally gaining access to their bank accounts, credit cards and retirement accounts.
Kristopher Brent Cobb, 41, was sentenced by United States District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered him to pay $137,573 in restitution. At a hearing January 30 hearing, Judge Walter said that Cobb’s crimes had caused “immense grief” to the married couple’s surviving child. Cobb had pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
On September 11, 2019, a man identified in court documents as Victim 1 murdered his wife (Victim 2) and their son (Victim 3), attempted to kill their daughter (Victim 4) and then committed suicide.
Subsequently, Cobb – having read news coverage of the tragedy – created two fraudulent emails in Victim 1 and Victim 2’s name, requested Capital One Bank add him as an authorized user of Victim 1’s credit card, and attempted to withdraw $8,566 from a Los Angeles ATM with it. Two days later, he impersonated Victim 1 in an Alhambra cellphone store and used his Citibank credit card for an unauthorized purchase of $124. In November 2019, he called Barclays Bank using Victim 1’s cellphone number requesting the replacement of a Barclays credit card sent to a post office box opened by an accomplice after Victim 1’s death; he then retrieved it with a key.
In total, Cobb caused losses of approximately $146,139, including approximately $122,488 in losses from unauthorized transfers from Victim 1 and Victim 2’s TD Ameritrade account to purchase gold shipped to addresses in the Los Angeles area.
Cobb also in late October 2019 made approximately $16,450 in unauthorized purchases and attempted ATM cash withdrawals using various credit cards in Victim 1’s name, including purchases in California and Puerto Rico.
Finally, Cobb made approximately $3,200 in unauthorized transfers from Victim 1’s Chase Bank savings account to Victim 1’s Chase Bank checking account to fund an unauthorized check.
“[Cobb’s] predation upon Victims 1 and 2 was not only to plunder the estate of Victims 1 and 2, but was perpetrated upon Victim 4 at the most difficult and complicated moment of her life,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “[Cobb’s] crimes were grotesque.”
