Carpinteria Flimflammer Gets 16 Years in Slammer

There would be no tearful exclamation of remorse by Brett Lovett, the convicted flimflam artist, and no Perry Mason moment of satisfaction for the victims or courthouse watchers. Instead, Judge Pauline Maxwell would quietly (barely audibly, given the muffled acoustics of her courtroom) sentence Lovett to 16 years and eight months behind bars for strip-mining the retirement accounts of multiple senior citizens to the cumulative tune of $700,000. 

Translated into real time, that comes to about four years, according to Casey Nelson, who prosecuted the case and argued Lovett should get 28 years. The probation report — citing the utter financial ruin Lovett visited upon his elderly victims — many of whom he met through Carpinteria’s Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses — argued for 26 years. Ultimately, the judge imposed a lighter sentence, citing Lovett’s lack of prior criminal charges.

In 2010, he’d been sued in civil court on similar grounds — presenting himself as an insurance agent, paralegal, and trained mediator and offering to put his victim’s retirement account into a lucrative investment scheme that ultimately panned out only for Lovett. In that previous case, Lovett used the proceeds of his ill-gotten gains to pay for hair transplants for himself and breast implants for his then-girlfriend. Based on his appearance in court last week, his hair transplants clearly did not take, and presumably Lovett could argue he should get his money back. 

That would not be nearly enough, however, to make whole his more recent rounds of victims, whom he fleeced for $700,000. Lovett reportedly used those proceeds to rent a vacation rental in Carpinteria, upgrade airline tickets, pay for unspecified cosmetic procedures, buy food, and cover the cost of mediation classes he took. 

To the extent he offered much of a defense, it was that his victims signed documents giving him the power of attorney and that all the transactions he made were made while functioning as their designated power of attorney. One of the victims Lovett rendered homeless was in the courtroom but did not testify at the sentencing. She met Lovett at the Jehovah’s Witnesses Hall, and when she demanded her investment money back, he tried three times to have her committed to a mental institution.

Lovett’s wife showed up with their three young children in tow and testified that his incarceration would impose an extreme economic and emotional hardship upon the whole family. Lovett’s brother testified in similar fashion. 

During the trial, Lovett’s victims testified they’d come to regard Lovett as a son they wished they had, detailing the deep emotional betrayal as well as devastating economic loss he caused them. At the conclusion of last week’s sentencing hearing, Judge Maxwell stated simply, “This has been a hard case. I’m sorry for all his victims. Including his family.”

Because of construction now taking place at the courthouse, Lovett’s victims and family members found themselves forced to exit through the courthouse’s one and only exit. As they left the courthouse — no one happy with the results — they emptied out into the courthouse archway, then thronged with brightly attired members of various wedding parties.