An Elk Grove woman accused of embezzling more than $129,000 from her 85-year-old mother’s trust funds has been arrested by Rocklin police. Christine Ann Cooper, 62, as account trustee, allegedly embezzled the funds over a nine-year period, according to a Police Department news release. She is accused of writing checks to herself from the accounts and falsifying account statements to conceal the theft. Police said Cooper was arrested without incident Tuesday morning at her place of business in Sacramento. She was taken to the Placer County Jail in Auburn, where she was booked on suspicion of elder abuse/theft from an elder, embezzlement of more than $400 and forgery.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article23065596.html#storylink=cpy
Others Articles:
Is A Family Member Ripping Off Your Aging Parent (Forbes 04/22/2013)
The Ultimate Betrayal (Consumer Reports, 01/2013)
After Lying and Embezzling from her Mother's Estate, Daughter is Jailed by Jennifer King (2-2-2012)
Woman charged with trust fund embezzlement held on $25,000 by Brigitte Ruthman (10-2-2010)
Here is a list from Forbes Magazine of Warning Signs.
1. A family member becomes secretive about the parent’s finances
In this case, a long standing pattern of making Mom’s books available to all 3 siblings was altered. Carrie knew what Mom’s regular expenses were and what she spent every month. Mom is 87. When Carrie got excluded from online access to Mom’s accounts, it raised a red flag.
2. A family member lives with the parent and depends on the parent for financial support.
Carrie’s brother Jack lives with Mom. He has a job, but Mom pays all his bills. This has gone on for some time. Now, he’s using Mom’s credit card and he apparently doesn’t want Carrie to see what he’s spending. Sometimes this situation is a recipe for abuse because it’s just too easy to rip off the aging parent, who is vulnerable to manipulation.
3. A family member begins to isolate the aging parent from others.
When there is anyone blocking visits, restricting access of other family members to the elder, it’s another red flag. The potential abuser doesn’t want anyone looking too closely at what is going on and the method to avoid scrutiny is to keep the elder away from the other family members.
4. An adult child insists on being present when anyone else is with the aging parent.
This can be a sign that an adult child is threatening the aging parent if he/she talks about the financial manipulation that the elder knows is going on. If the elder has concerns, the abuser doesn’t want the aging parent to reveal this to anyone and may have frightened the elder into silence.
5. A family member has a substance abuse problem and has influence over an aging parent with memory problems.
Drug and alcohol dependency can make a liar out of just about anyone who has this issue. Memory impaired aging parents are “easy pickings” for money to support the dependency habit. The adult child or other relative uses the relationship with the elder to manipulate “loans” out of the elder and the elder forgets what happened or can’t make sense of it but says yes.
6. Sudden change in estate planning documents, particularly Durable Power of Attorney, Trustee or signatory on a bank or brokerage account.
Cognitive impairment begins subtly at first, but the elder is vulnerable to manipulation even in the earliest stages of dementia. When names on legal documents suddenly get added or removed, it is a suspicious sign, particularly if there is no obvious need to make such changes.
7. Kidnapping and moving the elder to an adult child’s home without notice to anyone or discussion with anyone else.
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