FOX 11 investigation examines elder abuse allegations against Torrance City Council member
Torrance City Council member accused of elder abuse
A FOX 11 investigation examines allegations that Torrance City Council member Asam Sheikh exploited a 92-year-old neighbor to gain control of his home, finances and health care decisions.
TORRANCE, Calif. - A FOX 11 investigation has uncovered serious allegations against Torrance City Council member Asam Sheikh, who is accused of using his elected position to gain the trust of a vulnerable 92-year-old neighbor, then taking control of his home and finances before the man died.
Anita O'Brien, the daughter of the late John Fleming, says Sheikh, who represented Fleming's district on the Torrance City Council, groomed her father over several years, eventually gaining control of his property, his bank accounts and his health care decisions.
"He groomed my father," O'Brien told FOX 11. "He used his undue influence as a city councilman."
John Fleming was a retired aerospace electrical engineer and military veteran who purchased his Torrance home in 1962 and lived there for most of his life. O'Brien says her father's health and memory began declining years before his death and that Sheikh used that vulnerability to his advantage.
"He wasn't just any city councilman," she said. "He was my dad's representative, and my dad trusted him fully, and he used that authority to get my dad to completely trust him and do whatever he said."
According to O'Brien, her father signed over his Torrance home to Sheikh in 2021 without her knowledge.
"Asam created a quitclaim deed, and my father signed it, and he submitted it to the Los Angeles County Registrar," she said.
Two years later, trust documents named Sheikh's daughter, Sarah Sheikh, as the beneficiary of Fleming's 50 percent interest in the home.
O'Brien says the house wasn't the only thing her father lost. She points to bank records she subpoenaed, which show repeated checks written by Fleming directly to the councilman.
"Which is one of the red flags of elder abuse," she said.
Council member Sheikh has denied any wrongdoing. At a recent Torrance City Council meeting, he called the allegations false and pointed to a probate case O'Brien filed and later withdrew.
"All these false allegations have already been answered in a court of law, when they were dismissed with prejudice, because there were no facts to back them up," Sheikh said at the meeting.
During that same meeting, Sheikh read from a letter written by Fleming's attorney, which stated Fleming had specifically instructed his legal team that he did not want his daughter to receive any gift or distribution from his estate upon his death.
"John explained that decision in his own words," the letter read. "He was upset about what he perceived as Anita's efforts to control where he lived, his health care and his ability to make his own decisions."
O'Brien disputes that account. She says she withdrew her probate challenge not because it lacked merit, but because she was worried the legal fight would drain what remained of her father's estate.
"A living trust, a durable power of attorney, an Advance Health Care Directive, they can't save us from ourselves," she said. "They can't save us from dementia."
Determined to be heard, O'Brien flew from her home in South Carolina to address the Torrance City Council and the public directly.
"Today I'm filing an official crime report with the Torrance Police, requesting a full investigation into alleged elder neglect, including how Councilman Sheikh took control of my father's finances, his real estate, his health, basically my father's entire life," she told the council.
Sheikh declined FOX 11's request for an on-camera interview. In an email, he wrote: "The real story here is the ugly campaign my opponent is running. Rather than stand against the elder abuse suffered by my former neighbor, my opponent Mike Mauno has chosen to side with the abuser, and use her for political gain. All the questions my opponent has asked were answered in a court of law, when the probate case was dismissed with prejudice. My former neighbor's attorney wrote a letter detailing the facts of this matter, which I am sharing with you here."
Council member Sheikh provided FOX 11 with the full letter below:
O'Brien has since filed complaints with the Torrance Police Department, the California Fair Political Practices Commission and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
"What does justice look like for my dad?" she said. "It definitely doesn't look like Asam Sheikh sitting as a city council member."
FOX 11 contacted the Torrance Police Department, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and the California Fair Political Practices Commission for comment. None had responded at the time of publication.
FOX 11 will continue to follow this story.