‘My guardian angel was watching out for me’
by Jim Crawford

SCOTTSDALE – Retired California school teacher Doris Rhodus is convinced she has a guardian angel.

That angel, or some inner voice, saved her $86,000 and led to the arrest of a Scottsdale trio who police say were running a large‑scale investment scam.

Scottsdale fraud investigators last week arrested Luis Zurita, 32; Keith Byington, 44; and Rachel Rodriguez‑Byington, 36, all Scottsdale residents, after officers searched their offices on Doubletree Ranch Road and found evidence of fraud, according to a police department news release.

In addition, police seized approximately $1.5 million in assets allegedly obtained in the scam.

The fraud scheme promised investors a higher than normal rate of return on certificates of deposit. Victims were conned into giving the trio large sums of money to invest in the CDs, but the suspects used the money instead for personal purchases, police said.

“If there’s one thing I want to tell people, it’s to listen to our inner voices,” Rhodus advises. “Because of me, a lot of people are going to get at least some of their money back. They probably won’t get it all because he (Zurita) had spent a bunch on cars and personal things.”         

Rhodus was nearly swindled by the threesome when she was looking for a high‑paying CD to invest in and saw an ad offering a 6.04 percent rate of return.

“When I first started investing in CDs, they were 18 percent,” Rhodus related. “Then they went to 2 percent, and now 5 percent is a good rate. So when I saw the ad, I called the guy, Luis Zurita, and made an appointment to meet with him in his office. He told me the response to his ad was overwhelming and there were people everywhere (in the offices).

“When I got there, there was no one. The offices were very nice–probably the nicest ones I have ever purchased a CD in.

I figured there would be people everywhere. (Zurita) met me at the door, and he was a charmer–he e ven complimented my jewelry–a real charmer from day one.”

Rhodus said credentials on the wall at the office, called “First Federal Arizona,” looked authentic and posters touting the 6.04 percent mortgage rate were hanging in prominent places.

“I wrote him a large check ($86,000) and he said he would send it to Fidelity Federal to be used for my CD,” Rhodus went on to say. “When I went to my car, a large voice told me to ‘go home, go home.’ I argued and said I had errands to run, but it seemed like my car just took me home anyway.

“When I got there, the phone was ringing off the hook. It was the bank calling about my check. The man said it looked suspicious because I wrote ‘for CD’ on it and he (Zurita) deposited it in his personal account.

“The banker said I had an hour and a half to stop payment on the check. If I waited until the next day, it would be too late and I would have to sue him to get the money back. I firmly believe in divine protection. My guardian angel was watching out for me.”

Rhodus said her experience with Zurita opened the door for investigators who had been looking into the trio’s activities for some time.

“The detective must have thanked me for contacting the police five different times,” she added. “He said it opened the can of worms his department had been hoping for. They said the fraud could be linked to people higher up in other states. Luis Zurita might be given immunity to testify about the big names.

I don’t want him to get immunity.

I want him to go to jail.”People should believe in their guardian angels, Rhodus emphasized.

Investigators found other “investors” who had been bilked by Zurita for $361,000. According to police, he spent $41,000 of the funds on personal purchases, with no intention of buying CDs with the victims’ money.

Some victims “invested” tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars that would have been completely lost to the suspects. In a subsequent search of offices in the same building on Doubletree Ranch Road, detectives found evidence that Rachel and Keith Byington were also involved in the same type of fraud scheme.

Further investigation of the Byingtons revealed they had similar bogus accounts and shell companies set up to defraud investors. The company the Byingtons operated was called “Capitol 1st Financial, LLC.”

Undercover detectives, posing as investors, met with the Byingtons and were solicited to invest in the bogus CDs. An additional $1 million in bank accounts was identified as proceeds of the Byingtons’ fraudulent activities.

All three are facing a variety of state and federal charges. Keith Byington remained in custody, while Rachel Rodriguez‑Byington and Zurita were released on bond.

The investigation, which began Nov. 29, was conducted with the assistance of investigators from the Arizona Corporation Commission.