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| Billie Lawler of Austin won $750,000
in the Mega Millions in 2005, but less than five years later she was
out of money. Her daughter pleaded guilty to crimes related to taking
the money in March 2018 and was sentenced to 10 years of probation
Wednesday in Travis County. |
Jane Greenwood took $250,000 from her mom’s account and gave some to her husband and some to her boyfriend.
Not long after Austin widow Billie Lawler matched all five numbers in
the Mega Millions in 2005, her health began to erode along with her
$750,000 prize.
She hoped to live out the balance of her life at a
high-end Alzheimer’s care facility, but was evicted after about a year
when she no longer could make the $5,000 monthly rent, prompting a
court-ordered investigation that revealed her daughter had burned
through her mom’s money — a crime against the elderly that prosecutors
and judges say is common, but seldom results in criminal charges.
Shipped off to a state-run facility, Lawler died a month later in
August 2010 due to complications from a fall. She was 72 — five years
after leaving a South Austin convenience store with her winning numbers.
“She did not have the life she should have had but for this theft,” Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman said.
Jane
Greenwood, the youngest of Lawler’s three children, was sentenced to 10
years of probation Wednesday for taking what prosecutors say was about
$250,000 of her mom’s money. Greenwood gave $27,000 to her husband and
$11,000 to a man that a family member said Greenwood had been dating on
the side. There were smaller transactions at Walmart and at a sports
memorabilia store. She dined at upscale restaurants and cut checks to
several more family members.
Greenwood, 53, pleaded guilty in
March to two first-degree felonies related to the theft. With so many
family members having already pocketed a chunk of Lawler’s money, state
District Judge Brad Urrutia ordered a $51,000 restitution payment to be
made by Greenwood to her mom’s sister, Betty Brown.
Reached Friday by the American-Statesman, Brown, 75, choked back tears and said the lottery win brought more harm than good.
“It
meant nothing but misery,” she said. “It just seemed like everything
happened after that. It’s been hard. … We were amazed — absolutely
amazed — she could spend that much money in that short of time.”
Brown
said she agreed with probation as a punishment, believing her sister
would not have wanted Greenwood to be placed behind bars. Greenwood’s
lawyer, Jim Young, said probation was appropriate despite “substantial
irregularities to the way the estate was handled.” Greenwood is on
probation for an unrelated methamphetamine possession case in Hays
County.
At the time Lawler checked into Arveda Alzheimer’s Family
Care in May 2009, her account balance was in the neighborhood of
$307,000, prosecutors said. By then, the woman who had lived modestly on
whatever she made as a seasonal IRS worker had distributed some of her
winnings to family. She treated herself to a Chrysler 300.
Greenwood
applied and was appointed by a court to be her mom’s guardian. But she
never posted a required bond and the agreement was voided in July 2010.
Her mom died a month later.
A lawyer appointed to replace
Greenwood as guardian discovered money had been missing and filed a
criminal complaint with the district attorney’s office. Greenwood was
indicted in April 2015 on charges of aggravated theft and aggravated
misapplication of fiduciary property. The two charges took into account
the victim’s age.
The prosecutor on the case, Keith Henneke, said
that without the theft Lawler would have had enough money to stay at
Arveda through mid-2017.
“Unfortunately, these cases are rampant
in our communities,” Henneke said. “We continue to work hard to bring
these cases to light to protect our most vulnerable citizens.”
A
separate civil dispute was resolved by Greenwood and other heirs of the
estate, who distributed roughly $130,000 from the sale of Lawler’s South
Austin home.
Judge Herman, who oversaw the civil case, said he’s pleased that criminal consequences arose from Greenwood’s theft.
“There
is a reluctance to prosecute because the perception is the victim can’t
tell you,” he said. “It’s not the easy case where someone stole my
bicycle and we know who did it.”
Full Article & Source:
Austin lottery winner battled Alzheimer’s as daughter stole $250,000
