A daughter is accused of embezzling more $100,000 from her elderly parents.Eloise Russo, 53, was appointed the guardian to her parents, Thomas Sherwin, 90 and his 83-year-old wife, Ada, in April 2007. But in July 2008 she was removed as the guardian over allegations of fraud.
Sherwin died on Monday. Her mother is currently living in a nursing home.
Russo's siblings declined to comment.
She has been arraigned in Hudsonville District Court on the felony charge and faces up to 10 years if convicted.
Her attorney told 24 Hour News 8 she intended to return the money and that she was the only one of five children to take care of her aging parents.
"She never intended to steal as alleged," said attorney Kelly G. Lambert, "and in fact she's even paid substantial sum of that money. I see the allegations against her well in excesss of over a $100,000. That's nowhere near true. Ms. Russo has paid over $60,000 of the funds back and she did it earlier this year."
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Parents Embezzled,Daughter Charged
6 comments:
I thought it was safe to steal when you're a guardian - unlike stealing with a power of attorney, and you get busted!
Well, wadda 'ya know?
If she was the caregiver of her parents, I'll give her a bit of slack because caregiving is the hardest job in the world.
But, at the same time, stealing from them is unforgivable and it really doesn't matter if she paid them back or not - it's still stealing.
Unless, she is being charge unfairly by the court for moneys she spent in her parents' behalf. That happens a lot and it's wrongfully labeled as theft.
The siblings would know best what happened and what didn't.
Did she embezzle or did she make a mistake?
If she didn't use the money for her own fun or pleasure, then it could be that she made a bookkeeping error and it's being called embezzlement.
A bookkeeping error, Anon 3?
Come on now, you don't believe that, do you?
Perhaps the siblings didn't comment because they didn't do their part in taking care of the parents?
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