MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – An 83-year-old woman has been accused of scamming people who paid her to help them with their legal issues.
Dorothy Clark Canfield has been charged with theft between $20,000 and $100,000.
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Montgomery County sheriff's deputies said Canfield operated International Profession Placement Services in Willis and claimed to be a paralegal.
Canfield told clients that she could facilitate immigration paperwork for residency or citizenship in the United States, investigators said.
Detectives said at least seven people paid her $2,500 or more for services between September 2011 and September 2012, but the agreed upon services were not completed.
Canfield was arrested after an undercover investigator went to her, claiming to be in the country illegally and needing help filing documents to obtain legal status, deputies said.
Canfield has been booked into the Montgomery County Jail with bond set at $500,000.
Canfield has been in legal trouble in the past. In 1986, she was convicted on a felony theft charge in Walker County and sentenced to seven years probation. She pleaded guilty to a charge of forgery in Montgomery County in 1993 and was sentenced to 10 years probation. In 2009, Canfield was convicted of theft by check and served two years in prison. She was released in January 2011.