A San Fernando Valley woman was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison March 15 for taking over a house after the owner died, leaving his body to decompose while they looted his assets, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

Caroline Joanne Herrling, 44, also known as “Carrie Phenix” of West Hills, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong. The judge also ordered her to pay $3.9 million in restitution.

According to court documents, Ms. Herrling and her co-conspirators preyed on their victims by searching for properties in affluent neighborhoods where it appeared owners could not keep up with maintenance.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Ms. Herrling would use online mapping programs and visit nicer neighborhoods to search for algae-filled swimming pools or overgrown shrubbery to find the houses.

In 2020, after finding one such home in Sherman Oaks, about 16 miles northwest of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, Ms. Herrling and others broke into a residence where an elderly man lived. At some point in September 2020, the man died. Investigators are still uncertain how the man died, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Authorities say they believe Ms. Herrling and the others took over the house while the man’s body decomposed in his home.

“Rather than reporting his death, Herrling and others in the conspiracy left his body in his house while they looted his assets,” according to the office.

Ms. Herrling used a forged power-of-attorney form so she could pretend to act on the man’s behalf while stealing his real estate and financial accounts, according to authorities.

Law enforcement began investigating the case in October 2021, after neighbors reported the victim missing. According to court documents, Ms. Herrling told police officers she was a close friend of the victim and his family.

She also was listed as the trustee of the victim’s family trust, which she said had been created by the victim’s mother, who died in June 2017. The trust was a forgery, according to authorities.

Ms. Herrling told police he had moved from the Sherman Oaks home to Carpinteria, even though the man had died, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

After learning about the police investigation, Ms. Herrling and the others moved the man’s body to her apartment in West Los Angeles, where they attempted to dissolve his body in a concoction of chemicals, according to investigators.

When that didn’t work, she and the others dismembered the body, put it in vacuum-sealed bags, and moved the body to the San Francisco Bay Area, according to authorities.

Another member of the group who owned a sailboat disposed of the remains in the San Francisco Bay, according to investigators.

The victim’s remains have never been found.

“This defendant’s misconducts was both greedy and grotesque, causing profound pain to the victims and their loved ones,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement Monday.

During Friday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Frimpong said the victim was “a man and a human being,” but Ms. Herrling “did not see that” and treated him “like a cash register,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

During the scheme, Ms. Herring also took control of more than $1.7 million in assets from the deceased man’s mother.

Ms. Herrrling and the others also apparently defrauded a third victim and sold his home without his consent by using a conspirator with a fake identification who posed as the third victim. Ms. Herrling set up accounts to get the proceeds of the sale of this victim’s real estate, which was about $1.5 million, the office reported.

According to court documents, the third victim was suffering from mental health issues and took his own life after losing his home to Ms. Herrling, who later used the money to buy a home in West Hills.

The total loss in the case was nearly $3.9 million.

Ms. Herrling pleaded guilty in March 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She has been in federal custody since January 2023.

One of Ms. Herrling’s accomplices, Matthew Jason Kroth, 50, of Tarzana, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

He faces up to 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud, and up to 40 years for methamphetamine trafficking. His sentencing is scheduled for June 7.