RivCo Attorneys Charged With Fleecing Client, Children's Hospital

HEMET, CA — Two Hemet attorneys have been arrested and charged with multiple felonies following an investigation by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office that alleges the men scammed an elderly woman and bilked a children's hospital.

Trent Wayne Thompson, 44, and Quinton Ray Swanson, 49, were taken into custody Wednesday morning in Hemet by investigators with the DA’s Bureau of Investigation.

According to a Friday morning news release from the DA's office, in May 2019 Thompson drafted a living trust for a 95-year-old woman, designating himself as the “trust protector" — meaning he could appoint and manage a successor trustee if his client became incapacitated or died.

The trust laid out that Thompson was not a beneficiary and that 100 percent of the woman's estate would go to a children’s hospital following her death, according to the DA.

The woman died in November 2019. The following month, Thompson appointed himself as trustee and Swanson notarized the action. Thompson never notified the children's hospital about the woman's trust and passing. Instead, he withdrew and/or transferred $320,500 from the trust account, the DA's office said.

Thompson then spent the money on a Ford Fusion, airline tickets, and he transferred funds into his personal savings account, the DA's office alleged.

The children’s hospital learned of the trust discrepancy from one of the woman’s relatives and the organization sued in probate court. During proceedings, Thompson provided a document he said was an “amended trust” — notarized by Swanson — that gave the hospital a 50 percent interest.

Thompson also filed an affidavit signed by Swanson stating that he had visited the woman in a care facility eight days before her death.

The woman allegedly signed the amended trust on her deathbed, but DA investigators contend the signature was a fake.

"The care facility has no record of her receiving visitors that day and investigators determined the signature on the amended trust document was not consistent with that of the woman," according to the DA's office.

Both Thompson and Swanson were booked into Riverside's Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on Wednesday. As of Friday morning, Thompson remained in custody in lieu of $321,000 bail. Swanson was released Wednesday on $10,000 bail.

Thompson has been charged with five felonies, including grand theft, money laundering, identity theft, forgery, and perjury.

Swanson's four felony charges include identity theft, forgery, perjury, and accessory to grand theft.

Both men also have a white-collar crime sentencing enhancement included in the criminal
complaint.

Thompson is scheduled for arraignment Friday, while Swanson's arraignment date has been set for Sept. 2.