Authorities arrested a drug dealer known as “Persian Shawn” on Monday for his alleged role in selling an Encino home to a man who later killed himself.
According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court last week, Bahram Hassanshahi and his co-conspirators allegedly stole the identities of property owners, created fake power of attorney forms in their names and then sold their properties.
Hassanshahi allegedly received $180,000 in proceeds from the burglary of Robert Tascon’s home – funds he later told investigators he used to purchase drugs for resale. Tascon killed himself in 2022, which his common-law wife told investigators was due to his ongoing battle with depression and his inability to get his Encino property back.
Authorities are charging Hassanshahi with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Hassanashashi allegedly conspired with Caroline Herling in the sale of Tascon’s home for approximately $1.5 million in 2021. According to the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A., Herling, a former West Hills resident, fraudulently obtained ownership of real estate and money in a nearly $3.9 million scheme that also included dismembering and dumping a body.
Investigators describe Hasanshashi as “a self-admitted fentanyl and methamphetamine dealer.” The 63-year-old Woodland Hills resident is the latest person to be linked to the criminal network centered on Herling.
Herling pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a crime that involved the fraudulent sale of Tascon’s home. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Another co-conspirator, Jason Kroth, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is awaiting sentencing.
In an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, Lyndon Versoza, a postal inspector, said Tascon moved to Texas around 2018 while he was in a legal battle to evict squatters living illegally at his Encino property.
According to Versoza, after Tascon won the eviction case, Herling and co-conspirators created a fake ID in Tascon’s name, created fake power of attorney documents and sold his property without his knowledge or permission.
According to U.S. Postal Inspection Service reports, Tascon’s Encino home was his last asset, although he still received monthly payments from trusts that his family had set up for him in California.
After the house was sold out from under him, Tascon filed a lawsuit in an attempt to get it back.
Tascon committed suicide at his Texas home on September 11, 2022. He was 53 years old. The police report stated that he had a history of mental illness and was involved in fraud litigation.
In reviewing banking records and escrow documents, Versoza said he noticed a forged power of attorney document bearing Tascon’s name, which also had a fake notary stamp. According to Versoza, the forged power of attorney document granted “Shawn Hassanshahi” special power of attorney to sell Tascon’s assets.
The document was presented to the escrow company to facilitate fraudulent distribution of the funds received from the sale. Hassanshahi signed several escrow documents on Tascon’s behalf as the “seller,” Versoza wrote.
In an interview with Versoza, Hassanshahi said that he met Tascon in prison and that he later gave him a loan of more than $40,000. Hassanshahi claimed that when he called Tascon to collect the money, Tascon said he could get it through the sale of the Encino home.
Hassanshahi said he “had only talked to Robert Tascon about it once, but he thought he had permission from Robert Tascon to sell the property,” Versoza wrote.
Around the same time, Hassanshahi told Versoza, Kroth was already trying to sell the Encino house. According to Versoza, Kroth introduced Hassanshahi to Herling as a lawyer who could facilitate the sale.
Hassanshahi said he didn’t know why he had to use a fake notary or a fake ID to sell the home, Versoza wrote.
By the time of the sale, Herling already had another plan underway. According to court documents, Herling used online mapping programs and visited nice neighborhoods searching for algae-filled swimming pools or overgrown bushes to identify homes with vulnerable victims who were unable to care for their properties. .
After finding such a home in Sherman Oaks in 2020, Herling and his co-conspirators broke into the residence where Charles Wilding lived. Wilding died of undisclosed causes sometime in September 2020.
Investigators say Herling and others took over Wilding’s property while his body decomposed inside. Authorities said she used forged power-of-attorney forms to pretend to act on Wilding’s behalf and steal her real estate and financial accounts.
According to the prosecutor, when Herling learned of the police investigation into Wilding’s disappearance, he and his co-conspirators tried to dissolve her body in acid and lye on the rooftop balcony of her apartment. When that didn’t work, he and others dismembered the body, placed the pieces in vacuum-sealed bags and dumped the body in San Francisco Bay.
Wilding’s remains were never found.
Earlier this year, another of Herling’s co-conspirators, James Kantor, agreed to plead guilty to crimes related to the scheme. He admitted to creating a trust agreement and certification of trust for the deceased June Wilding so that her estate could be controlled by Herling.
Kantor also admitted creating a fraudulent petition to expedite the transfer of the Wilding assets into a fraudulent trust controlled by Herling.
According to the plea agreement, Kantor received at least $64,000 stolen from the estate of June and Charles Wilding.
