By Lisa Sturgis
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — It’s the final chapter in a case of fraud FOX5 Investigates first told you about in January.
Tuesday, a judge sentenced a Las Vegas Valley woman to a much stiffer
penalty than typical for exploiting her elderly neighbor and taking
everything he owned.
“We have a
situation here where you signed legal documents with a power of attorney
you never should have had in the first place, where you ran up credit
cards, where you stole identity, where your sold a trailer, or mobile
home, knowing that it was not yours to sell and planning on keeping the
money, so this is a long process of weeks or months,” said Clark County
District Court Judge Crystal Eller in addressing Ursula “Bobbi”
Lichtenstein.
Judge Eller took prosecutors’ recommendations and sentenced Lichtenstein to nine months in jail plus two years’ probation.
Lichtenstein
pleaded guilty to elderly exploitation in May. She sold Robert
Cartagena’s mobile home after gaining financial power of attorney. She
also disposed of his belongings and drained his bank accounts, leaving
him in what his neighbors called hospice care.
Robert Dekken, the manager of the Las
Vegas Jaycees Senior Community Park, contacted FOX5 Investigates after
Cartagena disappeared from the park, only to surface in the long-term
care facility weeks later. More than a year after that, police arrested
Lichtenstein, and the Clark County District Attorney’s Office moved
forward with an aggressive prosecution. However, they found their
sentencing options limited.
“It’s
shocking that in Nevada, there is a shocking amount of unlimited money
that you can steal from anyone, whether it’s an elderly person or a
vulnerable person, any private citizen, anyone, you can steal $50
million from someone, go to trial, get convicted, and it’s still a
probational offense,” said the prosecutor.
And the amount stolen from Cartagena was not the only offense of which her neighbors accused her.
“She’s been a persistent threat to the
safety, well-being, and integrity of our entire community. She’s
harassed staff and residents, manipulated elderly individuals into
giving her financial power of attorney over them, and has inserted
herself repeatedly into medical emergencies under the guise of helping
when in truth her form of help has led to financial control and asset
theft,” Dekken told the court.
Residents reported conflicts with Liechtenstein even after the courts ordered her to stay away.
“Ms.
Lichtenstein was originally remanded into custody in Justice Court for
violating the terms of her release flagrantly and offensively,
shockingly offensively,” said the prosecutor. “She refuses to follow any
orders given by any court while she’s out of custody. All she had to do
was be nice, be nice and avoid the residents of the mobile home park,
and she couldn’t do that, she refused.”
Dekken told the court that, at times, it got ugly.
“She has threatened my life on multiple
occasions. Blocked me in with her car, I have video of that, pretending
to have a weapon by placing both hands in her pockets, attempting to
provoke a reaction from me,” he said. “Since I initiated the
investigation into Ms. Lichtenstein, she has filed multiple retaliatory
complaints against me with Nevada Manufactured Housing and contacted my
employer repeatedly in an attempt to have me terminated.”
Multiple
former neighbors addressed the court, asking the judge to impose a
harsher sentence and to keep Lichtenstein out of their park.
When
given a chance to speak, the defendant again denied the accusations
despite having entered a guilty plea. The prosecutor noted, she did not
offer any apology.
“This is a woman
who believes that anything she can get her hands on belongs to her and
again feels no remorse for her decisions,” the prosecutor told the
court.
Lichtenstein’s attorney argued against jail time, citing positive
references from some of her former neighbors, although they did not
appear in court on her behalf. The defense also questioned what would be
accomplished by jailing a 76-year-old woman. However, Lichtenstein will
spend the next nine months in the Clark County Detention Center.
Meanwhile, Cartagena continues to live in
the mobile home park. He’s staying with his estranged wife because the
sale of his previous home could not be reversed. He’s awaiting
restitution for the $57,000 Lichtenstein admits to taking from his bank
accounts.
Dekken says, at one point,
the stress from this incident prompted his wife to urge him to quit his
job. He’s still overseeing the park and hopes today’s sentencing will
afford him and his residents the peace they’ve been seeking for years.
Full Article & Source:
FOX5 Investigates Update: Las Vegas woman sentenced for exploiting elderly neighbor
