A Wayzata woman had nearly
$1.5 million stolen by her personal secretary, according to charges
filed July 6 in Hennepin County District Court.Cynthia Lou Carley, 63, of Branson, Missouri, is charged with six counts of felony theft by swindle for a scheme that allegedly ran from mid-2016 until a few months before the local woman’s death in September 2019. The victim, who died at age 65 after struggling with muscular dystrophy and other serious medical conditions, was not identified in the criminal complaint.
According to the complaint, Carley admitted that she was responsible for the victim’s finances and that the woman’s health issues made it difficult for her to manage her own finances. The criminal complaint quoted Carley as saying that the victim “just didn’t care about anything” and told her to “just take care of it,” regarding her financial matters.
Carley added that she was to be paid $5,000 per month as a salary and admitted that she made personal purchases with the Wayzata woman’s funds in lieu of a normal paycheck. According to the complaint, Carley stated that any personal spending or purchases she made with the funds beyond the monthly amount would have been “unintentional.”
Carley began working for the woman in 2002. Her duties included paying the woman’s bills and filing her taxes. In an interview prior to her death, the victim told police that Carley was to be paid $10,000 to $20,000 annually for her services.
The Wayzata Police Department began investigating after receiving a report in June 2019 from the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center regarding the potential financial exploitation. The victim’s nephew discovered the transactions while reviewing financial records following the death of the victim’s son in May 2019.
According to the complaint, the victim and her family learned that Carley had been embezzling funds over several years, primarily by accessing the bank accounts and using the funds for personal spending. At the time, Carley was living in Missouri and visiting the victim at her Wayzata home two or three times a year.
Carley’s employment with the woman was terminated near the end of June 2019.
During the investigation, police subpoenaed account records for 32 credit card and other financial accounts and found that Carley used multiple credit cards at casinos and other establishments in the Branson area and later made payments on the credit cards using the victim’s funds.
“Furthermore, the defendant took advantage of her position of trust by
using the victim’s funds to pay her own personal credit cards, as well
as credit cards and other accounts belonging to the defendant’s husband
and other family members, without the victim’s knowledge or consent,”
the complaint read.
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