{"id":237633,"date":"2026-04-06T20:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/237633\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:26:09","slug":"san-antonio-woman-convicted-in-headstone-scam-sentenced-to-6-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/237633\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio woman convicted in headstone scam sentenced to 6 years in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 The subject of a yearslong KSAT investigation<\/a> received a prison sentence after she was convicted of stealing $50,000 from people who purchased headstones but never received them. <\/p>\n

Elena Moreno Sanchez, 49, was sentenced to six years in prison just before noon on Monday. Judge Stephanie Boyd, who presided over Moreno\u2019s trial, made the ruling inside Bexar County\u2019s 187th Criminal District Court. <\/p>\n

According to court records, Moreno was charged with theft of property between $30,000 and $150,000, which is considered a third-degree felony. She faced between two and 10 years in prison and would have been responsible for paying a fine of up to $10,000. <\/p>\n

Victims\u2019 testimony<\/p>\n

The prosecution called three witnesses to the stand on Monday morning. <\/p>\n

The first witness, who was first questioned by the state, said a headstone she ordered from Moreno never arrived. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was delivered by Ms. Moreno (Sanchez) was pain, agony (and) torture for me, my family and the loss of my husband,\u201d the witness told the court. \u201cWe have suffered quite a bit, and she has put us through nothing but hell until now. And I want closure of this.\u201d <\/p>\n

The witness told the judge that Moreno now works at another San Antonio-area funeral business and worries she could scam other families. Moreno later confirmed that she reports to a supervisor at that business and does not collect any money. <\/p>\n

After Moreno pled guilty last fall, Judge Boyd ordered her to pay complete restitution ($50,000) by December \u2014 her most recent court appearance before Monday. However, she only paid approximately 70% of that amount back in full. <\/p>\n

Following the December hearing, scam victims said they were devastated that her timeframe for repayment was extended to April<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Before proceedings began on Monday, the state and defense confirmed that Moreno had finally paid the victims back completely. <\/p>\n

Andrew Hicks, Moreno\u2019s defense attorney, asked the witness if she had received restitution. She said she had. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I remember your (Hicks\u2019) words. You said, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s a good Christmas gift. It came just in time.\u2019 That was very painful for me,\u201d the witness told Hicks. \u201cThat was not very nice. … I don\u2019t know how you can represent someone like that (Moreno).\u201d <\/p>\n

Boyd reminded the witness that, due to the U.S. Constitution, \u201ceverybody deserves to have an attorney, if they want one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s last two witnesses also said they didn\u2019t receive headstones from Moreno. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a reminder, when we go visit them (the second witness\u2019 parents), that we just got bamboozled,\u201d the second witness told the court. \u201cPlayed in our faces.\u201d <\/p>\n

The third witness said she learned of Moreno\u2019s Angelic Monuments business from a business card at a local restaurant. <\/p>\n

Moreno speaks<\/p>\n

After the state\u2019s three witnesses completed their testimony, Hicks called Moreno to the stand. <\/p>\n

Moreno, who said she owned the business for six years on her own, did not intend to take people\u2019s money or cause them additional pain. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked hard to maintain the integrity and the respect of it (Angelic Monuments business),\u201d Moreno told the court. <\/p>\n

Moreno said the COVID-19 pandemic and an abusive partner were two reasons there were headstone delivery \u201ddelays.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m heartbroken,\u201d Moreno said. \u201cI hurt these families … and I\u2019m terribly sorry for it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Instead of prison, Moreno asked Boyd for a \u201ccommunity supervision\u201d \u2014 or probation \u2014 sentence. <\/p>\n

In addition to Boyd\u2019s six-year prison sentence, Moreno is no longer allowed to work \u201cin the funeral home industry, the home health care industry or with minors.\u201d <\/p>\n

Background<\/p>\n

Moreno operated Angelic Monuments, a now-former South Side business that provided headstones to families who purchased them after losing loved ones. <\/p>\n

KSAT first reported on the business<\/a> in February 2024. <\/p>\n

Six family members of departed relatives talked to KSAT about their business interactions with Moreno. At the time, those family members paid more than $25,000 combined but said they did not receive headstones. <\/p>\n

Three weeks later, in March 2024, six more families who claimed Moreno had wronged them also came forward to KSAT in a follow-up story<\/a>. <\/p>\n

At that point, San Antonio police said it was investigating the theft reports. In addition, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) assigned Angelic Monuments an \u201cF-\u201d rating and launched its own investigation. <\/p>\n

Ten days later, on March 16, SAPD took Moreno into custody<\/a> after a family told police they wrote a $8.508.09 check for a headstone that never came. <\/p>\n

Moreno later posted a $5,000 bond.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Elena Moreno booking photo (Copyright 2024 by the Bexar County Jail – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

One month later, on April 16, officers arrested Moreno again on the updated third-degree felony theft charge<\/a>. <\/p>\n

SAPD officers said the victims\u2019 families paid more than $42,000 combined to Moreno in the forms of cash, checks and credit cards. <\/p>\n

Elena Moreno’s April 2024 booking photo. (Copyright 2024 by Bexar County Jail – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

By the time she pled guilty to theft in October 2025<\/a>, 16 families said they were victims of Moreno. In all, they said they paid her at least $50,000 combined. <\/p>\n

More coverage of this story on KSAT:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEXAR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 The subject of a yearslong KSAT investigation received a prison sentence after she was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12019,698,815,294,4976,82,84,83,632,4937,51314],"class_list":{"0":"post-237633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-angelic-monuments","9":"tag-bexar-county","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-ksat-investigates","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","15":"tag-san-antonio-news","16":"tag-sapd","17":"tag-south-side","18":"tag-we-follow-through"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}