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Detectives Charge Ventura County Man With Bilking Elderly Women Out Of More Than A Million Dollars

A Ventura County man claiming to be a successful financial trader has been arrested after detectives say he scammed more than a million dollars from people.

Investigators say James Leroy Johnson told his victims, mostly elderly women, that he was a former day trader and retired partner from a respected financial firm. But, the 71-year old Thousand Oaks man is actually an ex-con who spent a decade behind bars for stealing more than a million dollars from would-be investors in Orange County.

Johnson was arrested this week in Nevada. He was extradited to Ventura County to face investment fraud, and elder abuse charges.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.