Authorities have recovered more than $400,000 stolen by foster parents from their foster son.
U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill announced Tuesday that his office's Asset Recovery and Victim Rights Division had recovered $409,662 for Markus Min Ho Kim.
When he was 14 years old in November 2000, Kim watched his father murder his mother by stabbing her 11 times with a kitchen knife outside their home in Queens, N.Y. Hearing his mother's screams, young Markus ran outside to see his father stabbing himself in the stomach, according to news accounts.
After being hospitalized for talking about suicide, Kim was taken in by foster parents, Asia Concepcion Oropeza and Rahames Antonio Oropeza. When Kim turned 18, he received his mother's life insurance.
One day in 2004, Kim came home and found that the Oropezas had moved without leaving a note. About two months later, the couple telephoned the teen and told him they had moved to Florida and that it was his responsibility to look after their house in Flushing, N.Y.
In 2005, the couple flew Kim to Polk County to visit for a month. They showed him several new real estate subdivisions, suggesting he consider investing in the properties. They flew him to Florida a second time and showed him more properties.
They took Kim to a Washington Mutual Bank branch and persuaded him to purchase two certificates of deposit with $400,000 of his $500,000 life insurance policy, prosecutors said.
Unbeknownst to Kim, the day after he bought the CDs, Asia Oropeza took out two loans for $190,000 each using the accounts as collateral, O'Neill said. Kim's signature was forged on the loan documents, O'Neill said.
Now the Oropezas are each serving three years in federal prison for fraud and conspiracy.