A 42-year-old woman is accused of stealing more than $42,000 from her mother while acting as her court-appointed guardian, according to a State Attorney's Office investigation.
Diana Gail Copley was arrested Thursday and released later that day on $10,000 bail, jail records show.
Copley, whom an arrest warrant lists as living in Maryland, is facing two charges: grand theft and exploiting an elderly person or disabled adult. Each is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
In October 2008, Circuit Judge J. David Langford appointed Copley to serve as guardian for her mother, Virginia Rieke, of Lakeland. The judge noted that Rieke, who at the time was 76, needed a guardian because she was "totally incapacitated."
Another court record described Rieke as having "possible dementia and related confusion" and being unable to make her own financial and health care decisions.
Stephen R. Menge, an investigator with the State Attorney's Office in Bartow, wrote in a complaint affidavit that Copley breached her duty as her mother's guardian and financially exploited her.
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Woman Charged With Stealing $42,000 From Her Mother
4 comments:
Shame on her!
Shame and I hope she is sentenced to a long term in prison.
That is too bad. I wonder why she would have to steal it, guardian's get paid very well in Florida. They start at 45 an hour and go up to 90 I have heard. That includes driving and usually lunch too, I have heard. Was she also the only caregiver?
Diana Gail Copley threw away her life and her Mother. How lucky she was to have her Mother alive and to do this to her is unforgiveable.
I agree with everyone here who said "shame."
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