BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. - A woman will spend one to two years in prison after stealing thousands from her 89-year-old grandmother.
Rebecca Scott, 43, pled guilty to third-degree felonies of financial exploitation of an older adult or care-dependent person, theft by unlawful taking and access device fraud and forger.
In court Wednesday, Scott admitted she stole and cashed her grandmother's check for $6,500, and ordered a box of checks to her home in Bensalem.
She also said she attempted to take another $10,000 from her grandmother by altering another one of her checks, according to the Bucks County DA's Office.
A judge, who described Scott as a "con woman," sentenced her to one year less a day to two years less a day in county jail, plus five years of probation. She was also ordered to repay all the money she stole with payments of $200 a month.
"Scott is a serial thief who violated her 89-year-old grandmother’s trust," said District Attorney Matt Weintraub.
Scott's grandmother reported she was a victim of financial exploitation in September 2021.
She told officials that four checks went missing from her checkbook after her granddaughter made an unexpected visit. One of the checks was later cashed for $6,500 and used to pay for Scott's rent, officials say.
In April 2021, the grandmother says she agreed to lend Scott $2,000. She discovered Scott changed the check amount to $12,000 after she was left with insufficient funds while grocery shopping.
Another incident occurred in June 2021. Scott's grandmother discovered Scott had ordered new checks with her name and bank account printed on them, but they were being shipped to her granddaughter.
Scott had three prior convictions of financial crimes, including getting a $4,000 loan from a 75-year-old family friend and then repaying her with bad checks, making four unauthorized transactions for more than $4,400 from another person’s bank account and a check-kiting scheme that cost a Bensalem bank $4,000.
This is the Bucks County's first conviction of
its new "financial exploitation of an older adult or care-dependent
person" law. The law, which went into effect on August 29, 2021, makes
it a felony for a family member or other persons in a position of trust
to wrongfully or without authorization take or attempt to take money,
property or other assets from older adult or care-dependent person.
