Farmington woman charged with financial exploitation of a senior

Farmington woman charged with financial exploitation of a senior


Posted under Farmington,News on Monday 24 October 2011 at 7:12 am
Woman charged claims situation involves ‘a lot of misunderstanding’
by Laura Adelman
Thisweek Newspapers

A Farmington woman is charged with stealing from a nursing home patient with dementia who then faced eviction from Trinity Care Center after falling $20,000 behind on rent.

Roxanne Helen Meyer, 51, allegedly used at least $16,660 to pay her own taxes and bills, her daughter’s tuition and other expenses from the account of the victim, according to a complaint filed in Dakota County District Court last week.

Other items investiagators claim was purchased with the funds include new tires for Meyer’s vehicle, wedding gifts, Christmas gifts, and food for Christmas gathering at Meyer’s daughter’s home.

The complaint states Meyer said she gave “loans” to her daughters with the victim’s money and used about $10,000 of it for her own benefit.

It also stated that she told police she was using some of the money to repay a loan the victim had taken out from another person.

When contacted by investigators, the person who granted the loan allegedly said that it was Meyer who had taken out the loan and had repaid some of it with the victim’s funds.

In an Oct. 24 interview, Meyer said the victim is her mother and that she borrowed money from her during a time of financial struggle due to her daughter’s medical problems.

Meyer said the loans were arranged before her mother’s sudden fall and subsequent surgery caused dementia to “come on very strong.”

She also denied stating that she told investigators the loan involving the other person was her mother’s loan.

“I didn’t state it in that way,” Meyer said, adding that she was naive about how to manage the finances of a vulnerable adult.

Meyer said that she has repaid all the money she borrowed from her mother by taking out a loan, and a conservator has taken over turned over finanicial responsibility for her mom’s finances.

She said her mother’s bills have been paid and she was never evicted from the nursing home.

“I believe there’s a lot of misunderstanding with this whole thing,” Meyer said. “The intention had been to pay this money back over time. You think you have all the time in the world. This was never meant to be stealing from my mother. It’s not my nature. Things just escalated so quickly after she fell.”

Meyer faces six counts of felony financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. Each count carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and fines between $6,000 to $20,000.

Laura Adelmann is at laura.adelmann@ecm-inc.com

Please read complete article at link below:


http://www.thisweeklive.com/2011/10/24/farmington-woman-charged-with-financial-exploitation-of-a-senior/

Editor's note: When the Cook County Probate Court vultures profit from the helpless, this is the watchword, “I believe there’s a lot of misunderstanding with this whole thing,”
Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com