bernice tingle lost more than one million dollars of hard-earned savings. cherry on top -- when individual retirement accounts are cashed out, substantial tax penalties accrue. mccant promised he'd pay that liability. of course, he didn't, and tingle gets two tax bills -- one from the state of california for $127,000 and one from the i.r.s. for $487,000. tingle says the bills bring on an anxiety attack that sends her to the hospital. >> i will probably go to my grave -- even if i live to be as old as my mother, i will never be able to meet that tax obligation. >> narrator: the federal government has forgiven a portion of her tax liability because it was a theft loss. >> the state is not looking at it that way. so that bill continues to tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. >> mccant preyed on people, and he betrayed their trust. these people were trusting, hardworking, law-abiding people who trusted mccant and he violated that trust and that's something you can never get back. >> narrator: vera lost more than $800,000 of savings. in the wake of her loss, she strugg