Champlin woman accused of stealing more than $50,000 from 90-year-old mother with dementia, charges say

A Champlin woman seized on her 90-year-old mother’s deteriorating mental capacity by writing checks to herself totaling more than $50,000 from her mother’s account without consent, authorities say.

Jane Francis Barbosa, 54, was charged Tuesday with two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult as well as two counts of felony theft, according to the criminal complaint filed against her in Ramsey County District Court.

Investigators were alerted to the case by the 90-year-old St. Paul woman’s attorney after the attorney learned her client felt “scared and intimidated” by Barbosa, according to the criminal complaint. The woman told her attorney that her daughter had recently demanded she write a check to her for $60,000 and that she made similar financial demands in the past, according to the complaint.

Barbosa was questioned about the incident and told investigators the request had been borne of a “one-time fit of passion” that had since “blown over,” according to the criminal complaint.

She went on to say that other than small payments ranging from $10 to $60 to cover housecleaning and errands, she didn’t receive money from her mother, according to the charges.

But a closer look at her mother’s bank records revealed otherwise, according to the complaint.

While investigators did find several smaller checks written to Barbosa for housework, they also saw several checks for substantially larger amounts totaling about $30,000, including one for $10,000, another for $7,000 and a third for $6,000, legal documents say.

When Barbosa was asked to explain, she told investigators she neglected to mention those checks because she didn’t think they were necessary, the complaint said.

Barbosa continued to write large checks to herself without anything written in the memo line even after talking with investigators, the complaint said.

Those checks totaled about $20,000 in three months.

Barbosa’s mother was shocked when law enforcement told her about the checks, saying she wrote her daughter only checks for $10 a week.

When pushed about the amounts, Barbosa told investigators the larger checks had been loans from her mother, but she was unable to provide any proof of the terms, according to the complaint.

Barbosa also knows that her mother’s age and dementia prevent her from being able to consent to such loans, the complaint said.

No attorney was listed for Barbosa in court records. She is expected to make her first court appearance on the charges in late May.

Barbosa has no criminal record in Minnesota.

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Champlin woman accused of stealing more than $50,000 from 90-year-old mother with dementia, charges say