Three Found Guilty of Embezzling $300,000 from Elderly Woman with Dementia

[Muriel Schwenck]

L I N K

October 2, 2020
A federal jury handed down a guilty verdict against a Charlotte woman late yesterday, for her involvement in a $300,000 embezzlement scheme perpetrated on an elderly, dementia-afflicted victim, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Donna Graves, 58, was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
[...]
According to filed court documents, evidence presented at trial and witness testimony, from January 2015 through September 2019, Graves and her two co-conspirators, Gerald Maxwell Harrison and Elizabeth Robin Williams, engaged in a scheme to defraud a victim identified in court documents as “K.T.” The victim was an elderly widow who lived alone and suffered from dementia and other physical and mental challenges.

Trial evidence established that, beginning in February 2014, Graves and Williams provided housekeeping services for the victim through a business owned and operated by Graves. Court records show that, over the course of the scheme, the co-conspirators isolated the victim from her friends and family, induced the victim to give them power and control over her personal affairs, and fabricated a power of attorney purporting to give Graves and Williams control over the victim’s financial affairs. According to trial evidence and witness testimony, once they gained access and control, Graves, Williams, and Harrison moved the victim out of her residence in Indian Land, South Carolina, first to an apartment in Charlotte, and later to a rental home in Mint Hill, refusing to let the victim’s friends and family know where she was living.

Trial evidence also established that Graves, Williams, and Harrison engaged in numerous illegal and unauthorized financial transactions that substantially depleted the victim’s money and property. Specifically, the co-conspirators emptied the victim’s bank accounts and used the money to pay for personal expenses, and they fraudulently “maxed out” at least one credit card in the victim’s name. The co-conspirators also fraudulently transferred or attempted to transfer the victim’s Indian Land residence to themselves by creating a quit claim deed purporting to gift the residence to Harrison, they pawned the victim’s jewelry, and they stole the victim’s federal benefits. Additionally, Williams unlawfully used the victim’s money to set up other businesses in her name, including a business selling handbags online and a business selling weight loss-related services. As a result of the fraudulent scheme, the co-conspirators defrauded the victim of more than $300,000.

In May 2020, Williams and Harrison pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, interstate transportation of stolen property, and money laundering conspiracy. The wire fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The statutory maximum penalty for the money laundering conspiracy charge is 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The interstate transportation of stolen property charge carries a maximum prison term of 10 years and a $250,000 fine.
[...]

graves.JPG

• Muriel Schwenck
• Oct 5, 2020
• donna graves

harrison.JPG

• Muriel Schwenck
• Oct 5, 2020
• gerald maxwell harrison

williams.JPG

• Muriel Schwenck
• Oct 5, 2020
• elizabeth robin williams

 

[Spider]

They should harvest their organs if they can't reimburse the money.

 

[Sejanus]

Trifecta of Evil.

 

[Keepalowprofile]

And they werent even charged with kidnapping.
To me that was the most injurious to the victim.
Stealing her money only hurt her heirs which morally were not doing much for the victim since she was living alone and suffering from dementia.
But the confusion and terror the victim felt being moved and isolated must have been horrific.

Graves, Williams, and Harrison moved the victim out of her residence in Indian Land, South Carolina, first to an apartment in Charlotte, and later to a rental home in Mint Hill, refusing to let the victim’s friends and family know where she was living.

In May 2020, Williams and Harrison pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, interstate transportation of stolen property, and money laundering conspiracy

The wire fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The statutory maximum penalty for the money laundering conspiracy charge is 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The interstate transportation of stolen property charge carries a maximum prison term of 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

They will never pay back a dime.

 

[Satanica]

This happened to the lady that worked at the hair salon where I got my hair done. We could see that she was slipping mentally, but she had two adult sons so no one was too concerned. Eventually, though, two women got hold of her, moved her, and controlled all of her finances. When her sons finally located and freed her, she didn't have a tooth left in her mouth and was in bad shape. They had to put her in a nursing home. I don't remember if the two bitches were ever arrested or what.

It can happen faster and easier than you might think.

 

[Muriel Schwenck]

Stealing her money only hurt her heirs which morally were not doing much for the victim since she was living alone and suffering from dementia.
But the confusion and terror the victim felt being moved and isolated must have been horrific.

To be fair, the victim's brother was trying.
The link below contains plenty of detail on how they operated the theft, even hiring an armed security guard to keep the old woman away from people.
In the end, she was very ill and there was no $$ left, so they contacted a friend of the woman to take her away.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article242874996.html

Williams and Graves then falsely accused the victim’s brother — who lived in the same assisted living community — of trying to take control of her money and had him removed as her power of attorney, according to the indictment.

Around the same time, prosecutors said the armed guard threatened the victim’s brother when he tried to visit her by placing a gun in his back and telling him he wasn’t allowed to see or speak to her without permission from Williams, Harrison or Graves.

The brother reportedly asked law enforcement to intervene, but the trio had already relocated his sister to an apartment in Charlotte.

He later hired a private investigator to track them down, at which point the victim was moved again to a home in Mint Hill, according to the indictment.

Also, these are all Federal charges and prison terms. If they didn't transport the old lady across state lines then the kidnapping charges would be filed by the state. I couldn't find anything on state charges.