An arrest warrant was issued Monday (March 31) for a woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conning a Fayetteville man by pretending to be country music star Alison Krauss.
According to the arrest warrant issued in Washington County Circuit Court, Peggy Sue Evers, 53, violated the terms of her probation by not returning the victim’s vehicles within 60 days of her guilty plea in January.
Evers pleaded guilty to theft by deception in Washington County Circuit Court on Jan. 16. She received eight years probation and was ordered to pay nearly $73,000 in restitution to the elderly victim and to return his vehicles within 60 days. Evers also has signed the deed to his house back over to him.
Appearing before Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay in January, the woman also was ordered to remain on supervised probation while still in Arkansas and when she returned to her home in Albuquerque, N.M. Probation duties were to transfer to authorities in New Mexico when she returned there, officials said.
Evers had possession of four of the victim’s vehicles, said David Bercaw, Washington County deputy prosecuting attorney. Authorities in New Mexico recently sent photographs of two vehicles still in Evers’ possession to officials in Fayetteville, Bercaw said on Monday (March 31).
Police say Evers convinced a 75-year-old man she was Krauss and got him to sign his $245,000 home over to her in 2013. His bank account also fell by $40,000, according to an arrest warrant affidavit in Washington County Circuit Court.
Fayetteville police began investigating Evers in April 2013 when First Security Bank officials contacted investigators, concerned because their elderly customer Don Fulton withdrew several thousand dollars within a few months, the affidavit states. Fulton’s son told a detective his father had met a woman online who the father believed was Krauss. Fulton had recently married Evers, and the son thought she might be taking financial advantage of him, according to the affidavit.
Fulton later told police he believed Evers was Krauss and that she had changed her name to escape the paparazzi. He also said he signed his home over to Evers so that she could put it in Fulton’s son’s name.
Investigators also found out that Evers had changed Fulton’s will to give her his money in the event of his death, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. Evers gained control of Fulton’s home by alleging meritless battery accusations against Fulton, police said.
Evers was released from jail on bond, but then was arrested again on Oct. 8, 2013, when she showed up for a scheduled appearance at Washington County Circuit Court.
She had been set to appear for a pre-trial hearing on Oct. 8 but had been a fugitive from the law since September, when she skipped out on a scheduled mental evaluation, officials said.
To download the arrest warrant, click here.
