Closing arguments begin in Fresno County estate fraud trial involving golf club theft allegations

A Fresno County jury is weighing whether Gina Abercrombie and Justin Teel used the identity of a dead Sanger golf course owner to siphon money and property from his estate. Closing arguments began Monday in the two-month case, which prosecutors say centers on more than $800,000 tied to Sherwood Forest Golf Club.

Prosecutors say Abercrombie and Teel impersonated Abercrombie’s late stepfather, Randy Hansen, after he died in 2020, then worked together in what they described as a joint venture to take his money and property. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty, and their attorneys told jurors theft or attempted theft never occurred. The case, heard in Fresno County Superior Court, has already stretched across eight weeks of testimony and evidence from dozens of witnesses.

The allegations have grown out of a long-running financial abuse investigation. Earlier court reporting described the disputed amount as more than $700,000 taken between 2017 and 2022, and authorities arrested Abercrombie and Teel in Pleasanton in 2023. Prosecutors have also said a third suspect from Arizona faces charges in the same case. If convicted, Abercrombie and Teel each face more than five years in prison.

What gives the case particular weight in Fresno County is the property at the center of it. Sherwood Forest Golf Club, near Sanger, says it has been family- and privately operated since 1968 and has long billed itself as the last family-owned 18-hole golf course in Fresno County. Hansen’s obituary identified him as Randall Jon Hansen, born April 10, 1945, and said he died March 24, 2020, in Sanger after taking pride in helping develop the course for more than 50 years.

Prosecutors spent nearly four hours walking jurors through their version of the evidence before defense attorneys began closing arguments later in the day. The jury now must decide whether the dispute was a bitter family and business fight or a yearslong theft scheme built around a dead man’s name, a local golf landmark, and control of an estate that had not been settled.