A woman in California is accused of contacting the Island County Treasurer’s Office and pretending to be a local woman in an effort to steal about $240,000 in surplus foreclosure funds, according to court documents.

It turned out that the woman who was due the funds was actually dead when the imposter contacted the treasurer. She had died in her Everett apartment, and her remains weren’t discovered for about eight months, according to reports by deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

Prosecutors charged the suspect, 43-year-old Christine Lebert, in Island County Superior Court Feb. 26 with attempted theft in the first degree, identity theft in the first degree, criminal impersonation in the first degree and forgery.

If convicted of the charges against her, Lebert could face up to 17 months in prison under the standard sentencing range.

Island County Treasurer Tony Lam and an employee contacted the sheriff’s office last April after becoming suspicious of an applicant for a foreclosure surplus on a Central Whidbey property. The treasurer said the alleged applicant used several different emails, misspelled her own name and supplied a signature that did not match records.

A deputy contacted the notary who allegedly notarized documents that the suspect provided to the treasurer’s office. The notary denied having any records of the documents and said the notary stamp was fake.

A deputy obtained a search warrant on the email account that the fraudster used to contact the treasure’s office. From the information provided by Google, Lebert was identified as the alleged impersonator, the report states.

During the investigation, deputies and treasurer’s office staff unsuccessfully tried numerous times to contact the rightful owner of the large amount of funds. In April, a deputy contacted the receptionist at the Everett apartment building where the woman lived. The receptionist confirmed that the woman lived there. The deputy also asked Everett police to do a welfare check, but nobody answered the door.

Finally, on Aug. 31, the Everett police notified the deputy that the woman’s body, along with a dead cat, were found inside the apartment. The officer said responders suspected that she had been dead since Christmas due to the conditions of the remains and holiday decorations.

The woman’s sister reported that she had been asking for a welfare check on the woman for months, but nobody had a compelling reason to enter the apartment. A manager finally went inside to investigate a beeping alarm.

The report states that it’s unclear why Lebert targeted the alleged victim but that information about the surplus had been on the county website. The funds resulted from a foreclosure auction conducted by the Treasurer’s Office in December 2021; the excess funds received as a result of the auction must be claimed by the homeowner of record within three years of the auction or the funds are forfeited to the county current expense fund, the deputy wrote.