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92-year-old Florida man swindled out of nearly $800k, accused romance scammer arrested: HCSO

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Updated  May 2, 2025 5:25pm EDT
Hillsborough County
FOX 13 News
Accused romance scammer swindles elderly man out of $800K

Accused romance scammer swindles elderly man out of $800K

FOX 13's Evan Axelbank reports.

The Brief

    • The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says 37-year-old Otiz Swinton Jr. stole nearly $800K from a 92-year-old man.
    • Deputies say Swinton pretended to be a swooning woman online and convinced the victim to take money out of his retirement account.
    • Swinton was in prison when the romance scam began and investigators believe that he was not working alone, according to HCSO.

SUN CITY CENTER, Fla. - A 92-year-old man from Sun City Center is out his life savings: nearly $800,000.

Otiz Swinton Jr., 37, was arrested after being accused of posing as a potential lover, then making off with enough cash for a lifetime.

Otiz Swinton Jr. mugshot courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Otiz Swinton Jr. mugshot courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. 

And it was not his first time.

The backstory:

"Seven years ago, he was convicted of stealing more than $1 million from more than 50 people in Sun City Center," said Amanda Granit, a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

That time, deputies say he convinced mostly senior citizens that they had fraud on their credit cards and that they had to mail them in to get it taken care of.

"This is someone who is committed to stealing people's money," said Granit.

PREVIOUS: Accused romance scammer swindles Sun City man out of $800K: HCSO

What we know:

And now he's done it again, with deputies saying that - from jail - he managed to meet a 92-year-old who was living in an assisted living facility, also in Sun City Center, and pretended to be a swooning woman while he talked to him over the internet.

"This was an individual who was lonely," said Granit. "[He] didn't have family or friends in the area. He was in a facility, and he was looking for connection. And unfortunately, he found it in the wrong place."

The victim wound up transferring money from a retirement account and into a regular bank account.

"This was no small life savings," said Granit. "They had a substantial amount of money. He must have worked very hard for this. And this was a criminal taking advantage of this."

The suspect had others withdraw the money using crypto, peer-to-peer transfer services and ATMs.

READ: 11-year-old robbed of fundraising money while selling chocolate in Lake Wales: LWPD

In all, deputies say they stole up to $800,000.

"Once our scammer got out of prison, he started depleting those funds down to zero," said Granit.

Swinton was finally caught in Orlando at a Publix using the victim's ATM card, just days after he got out of jail on the more than 200 fraud charges he was pinched for in 2019.

"He is not committed to rehabilitating his life, and he needs to go back to prison," added Granit.

What we don't know:

Deputies say there is a good chance there are others out there who were working with Swinton to arrange this scheme, but they have not identified any other suspects yet.

They also say it's possible there are more victims, and are asking anyone who thinks they might be, to come forward.

Swinton is charged with several types of fraud, but there could be more charges on the way that could put him in jail for a long time.

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The Source: FOX 13's Evan Axelbank collected the information in this story.

Hillsborough CountyCrime and Public Safety