Gertrude Townsend, an 87-year-old woman from the “bad part of town,” went from rags to riches when she won 2.68 million dollars in the Florida Lottery. Her family held her hostage while stealing the spoils and attorneys battled for guardianship on her dime, to determine who would control the fortune.
Mark Twain said history does rhyme and nest eggs are still wiped out by pretentious “do-gooders.” Poor Grandma!
Lotto Grandma Lives In Poverty, Feels Heartbreak
August 15, 1998|By TESSIE BORDEN Staff Writer
In fact, detectives say, the windfall brought her only unpaid bills, a bedridden existence and the heartbreak of a grandson who stole her money.
On Thursday morning, that grandson, Eric Jones, was arrested as he tried to cash a $650 check in Townsend’s name at the Nations Bank branch at 1300 Southeast 17th St. Police charged Jones, 25, with grand theft, passing a forged check and financial exploitation of the elderly.
“She’s technically a millionaire,” said Fort Lauderdale Detective Joe Roubicek. “But her phone is getting turned off. She’s living in squalor.”
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Joe Roubicek: Joe's Cases: Rich Grandma, Poor Grandma
There's always somebody who wants what someone else has. It really hurts when it is a member of your own family.
ReplyDeleteThank you Joe for bringing this issue to our attention. My guess is this is one of many cases many of which are not brought into the public arena.
ReplyDeleteFor some people, the $ brings out the worst of the worst and no surprise that a guardianship was being planned we'll never know the number of people who were dragged into the court system only to be used to wrongly to enrich others.
As for family members who prey on their own blood I cannot put into words in a public forum what I'm thinking. Use your imagination.
I wonder if the family treated her badly all along. Obviously they had to have been greedy from day one.
ReplyDeleteAnother good case, Joe. Thank you for all you do!
ReplyDeleteThank you for telling these stories to spread awareness and educate the unwary.
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