After her sister died in July 2007, Wilma Agnew, 82, needed somebody to watch over her declining health, help her pay bills and assist her with basic needs. Nearly all her relatives lived in the Midwest. In stepped Brandy Ann Bounds, a young Mansfield wife and mother who was a family acquaintance. As summer turned to fall and fall to winter, Agnew grew increasingly dependent on Bounds. She died Dec. 17.
Agnew's niece Julie Anne Zagorski was named administrator of her estate. What she found when she came down from Illinois left the family in disbelief.
Bounds, it appeared, had drained Agnew's bank accounts, sold her car and needlessly cashed in her stock. A probate court judge would later find that she and her husband, Jeremy Warren Bounds, owed Agnew's estate $228,252.46, not counting exemplary damages or interest. "We felt horror and outrage as we began to discover the full extent of Ms. Bounds' actions," Zagorski said. "We knew we needed to pursue this matter so justice for Wilma could be realized."
A Tarrant County grand jury recently indicted Bounds, 34, on a charge of theft of $100,000 to $200,000 of an elderly person, a first-degree felony. She was arrested Aug. 16 and posted $5,000 bail. If convicted, she could face five to 99 years or life in prison.
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Mansfield Woman Accused of Stealing Money from Incapacitated Senior
4 comments:
She likely won't even get 99 days in jail....
She'd better get jail time. That's the only way to stop other thieves.
Most of these crooks get off with probation and good luck collecting judgments. The victims, in this case the estate will have to hire a lawyer to try to get restitution unless the court orders restitution as part of the sentencing stipulations.
All this sound pretty good on paper maximum time (sure 99 years not going to happen) but when this case hits the court process to the courtroom it's a whole new ballgame, a reality check.
And, guarantee you the prosecutor is looking for a plea deal, a sure thing, less work for the prosecution office than preparing for full blown trial and a plea deal will ensure a 'conviction' = success case closed.
In many jurisdictions, if a defendant's sentence is less than one year, the time served will be in county jail which is filled to the brim, meaning this perp could walk out the back door of the jail due to overcrowding etc.
Welcome to the real world of American Justice ~~~ now let's keep our eyes on this case and see how this plays out.
If this couple were guardian attorneys, it would not have even made it to court.
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