Lake City man accused of financially exploiting and neglecting his mother, a vulnerable adult

Michael Dean Ladoucer, 55, of Lake City, is accused of stealing over $70,000 from his mother, purchasing three properties with her money and neglecting her health.

By Mark Wasson

WABASHA, Minn. — A Lake City man has been charged with several felonies related to financially exploiting his mother, a vulnerable adult, over the course of about a year, according to new charges filed in Wabasha County District Court.

Michael Dean Ladoucer, 55, is charged with two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, one count of financial transaction card fraud without consent, theft exceeding $5,000 and theft by swindle exceeding $35,000, all felonies. He also faces a gross misdemeanor charge of criminal neglect

Ladoucer is scheduled to appear in court July 19, 2023. 

According to the criminal complaint:

Ladoucer's mother executed a power of attorney appointing him as an agent to act on her behalf in February 2022. By November 2022, Wabasha County Adult Protection began investigating him after they received a report from a bank in Lake City concerning Ladoucer's use of his mother's account.

His 80-year-old mother, worth an estimated $2 to $3 million dollars, is considered a vulnerable adult under Minnesota statute and has required the use of in-home caretakers since January 2022.

From May 19, 2022, to Nov. 23, 2022, $73,033.39 was withdrawn from the woman's account which Ladoucer spent at around four dozen cities in six different states. The most, $3,060.51, was spent at Target, with varying amounts spent at 13 other businesses including Victoria's Secret, Kwik Trip and AmericInn.

On Nov. 30, 2022, the woman's bank account was closed and a joint bank account between her and Ladoucer was opened in Wisconsin.

Authorities also found three real estate transactions in Lake City they considered suspicious. The woman purchased three properties between 2018 and 2022 for a total of $426,400 with two of the properties transferred to Ladoucer in October 2022 for far below market value. Ladoucer and his ex-wife live in those properties. The third property is a vacant lot next to his mother's house.

Properties she owned in St. Louis County were sold to a third party in September 2022, netting $277,229.53, which was deposited in their joint Wisconsin account. The properties were previously held in a trust where Ladoucer was one of several beneficiaries.

When authorities, including an officer with the Lake City Police Department, went to speak with the woman, her caretaker told them that she could not let the woman speak with them unless Ladoucer approved. Ladoucer is not his mother's guardian and had no authority to exclude anyone from her home.

She was surprised when she learned about the majority of Ladoucer's spending, she told police, though she said she would allow him to use her debit card when he asked.

As the investigation progressed, two of the woman's former caretakers alleged that Ladoucer made his mother sign checks and told her the state was trying to control her and her money. 

One of the former caretakers told law enforcement that the woman had rashes and sores, which she attributed to the woman being left in a soiled diaper for a long period of time. The same former caretaker told authorities that following a fall by the woman in December 2022, Ladoucer did not initially bring his mother to the hospital and minimized her injuries. It was later learned his mother fractured a vertebra in the fall.

Ladoucer was also viewed as handling his mother roughly by lifting her up by her pants or wrists from her wheelchair.

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Lake City man accused of financially exploiting and neglecting his mother, a vulnerable adult