Woman charged for the financial exploitation of elderly person

by Erin Thompson

LEWISTOWN — A Milroy woman is facing felony charges after police said she took more than $26,000 from an elderly person while they were under her care.

Debbie Lynn Rickabaugh, 58, was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Kent Smith Monday on charges of theft by deception, receiving stolen property and financial exploitation of an older adult or care dependent person.

According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, a family contacted Lewistown Borough Police Department, stating that Rickabaugh had been taking advantage of an elderly person who she had been caring for since August.

Police said Rickabaugh was hired by the family of the elderly in August to work 20 hours per week and that Rickabaugh began cashing checks for the family in early September.

The report states that the elderly person’s checking account had been declining in November and that several checks had been made out to Rickabaugh. The family noticed that several of the checks stated large amounts of hours worked in the memo line.

Police said the family again checked the account in January and found large discrepancies in the account.

During 21 weeks of employment, police said Rickabaugh made out about $26,443 in checks to herself and the elderly person had signed them in good faith that the amount was correct.

Rickabaugh was held in Mifflin County Correctional Facility on $25,000 unsecured bail. She is awaiting a preliminary hearing set for 9 a.m. Feb. 21 in Smith’s office.

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Woman charged for the financial exploitation of elderly person

Investigators: Man posed as grandkids, stole money from NH elders

By Breanna Edelstein

CONCORD, NH — A New Jersey man faces a long prison sentence after being indicted for his involvement in what investigators called a “grandparent scheme,” in which local elderly residents handed over money after receiving phone calls that their grandkids were in trouble.

Elvis Guzman, 43, of Paterson, New Jersey, has been indicted for targeting New Hampshire residents and traveling around the state to aid in the thefts, investigators said.

Court records show Guzman has been indicted for two felony counts of conspiracy to commit theft by deception, a felony count of theft by deception as principal/accomplice, and another felony for receiving stolen property.

One of the indictments says that in 2020, Guzman conspired with other people to steal cash from 11 elderly victims across the state, including in Londonderry and Hampstead.

Guzman and others allegedly called victims and falsely stated that their grandchildren were arrested, or posed as the grandchildren and said they were under a “gag order” prohibiting them from sharing any details about the arrest.

Guzman and his co-conspirators are accused of stealing more than $100,000 from New Hampshire victims over a four-day span.

Records show that Guzman was arrested by Londonderry police on Nov. 6, 2020, after taking cash from a victim there.

The maximum penalty on each charge Guzman faces is 7 ½ to 15 years in New Hampshire state prison and a $4,000 fine. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Rockingham Superior Court on May 25.

Investigator Calice Couchman-Ducey of the Attorney General's Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau investigated the case with help from the New Hampshire State Police and police departments in the following communities: Londonderry, Keene, Concord, Newfields, Manchester, Hampstead, Newington, Franconia, Epping and Nashua.

The FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security also provided assistance.

Assistant Attorney General Bryan Townsend II of the Attorney General's Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Unit is prosecuting the case.

Anyone who knows about the victimization of elders, including abuse or financial exploitation, is encouraged to contact local police or the Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services at 1-800-949-0470.

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Investigators: Man posed as grandkids, stole money from NH elders

Probation for woman who stole $250G from her mother

by Alex Rose

Bernadette Branson-Lawler

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — A Springfield woman was given five years of probation and ordered to pay more than $250,000 to the estate of her mother after pleading guilty Tuesday to a theft charge.

Bernadette Branson-Lawler, 55, of the first block of Meetinghouse Lane, was originally reported to have stolen $337,715 from her 78-year-old mother over a period of nearly seven years, according to a release from the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office issued Jan. 28, 2019.

Assistant District Attorney Erica Parham told  Common Pleas Court Judge Margaret Amoroso Wednesday that Branson-Lawler had repaid $208,134 of the total $253,285 restitution amount being sought.

She will continue making payments of $500 per month over the next five years to satisfy the remaining $45,151 under the negotiated guilty plea worked out by Parham and defense attorney Matthew Sedacca. Neither Branson-Lawler nor her attorney said anything prior to the sentence being handed down.

Detective Sgt. Anthony Ruggieri of the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigation Division Senior Exploitation launched an investigation in September 2017 after law enforcement received information about the possible financial exploitation of a 78-year woman, according to the release. The victim, who is non-verbal and predeceased by her husband in August 2009, was residing in a secure unit of an assisted living facility for individuals with dementia, the release states.

Following the death of her husband, the victim appointed her daughter, Branson-Lawler, as her power of attorney. Branson-Lawler remained an agent for the victim until July 2013, when she petitioned the Orphan's Court of Delaware County to become guardian for her mother due to her diminished mental capacity and other health related issues, the release says. Branson-Lawler was appointed plenary guardian by the court until she was removed by the Orphan's Court in October 2017 and replaced by a court-appointed attorney.

Brandon-Lawler sold her mother’s house in Springfield for $269,000 in January 2013, then moved her mother to an assisted living facility, according to the release. In July 2017, Branson-Lawler failed to file the annual guardian's inventory and the annual reports of the person and the estate, as required by the Delaware County Orphan’s Court.

After failing to submit the required guardian paperwork and not appearing for court, a court-appointed attorney reviewed all of the victim’s financial records and discovered suspicious withdrawals made by Brandon-Lawler.

When questioned, Branson-Lawler admitted that she withdrew money from her mother’s accounts for personal expenses, such as her interior design business, her electric and insurance bills and gym membership. She also indicated she wrote herself checks, according to the release.

An investigation ensued and Branson-Lawler was ultimately charged with 21 counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and false impression, and receiving stolen property, all second-degree felony offenses. The remaining counts were dropped under the plea deal.

Parham indicated that the commonwealth would not object to termination of the probationary sentence early if Branson-Lawler completed making restitution payments early.

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Probation for woman who stole $250G from her mother

Defendant in $1M embezzlement scheme waives prelim

Gloria Byars

by Alex Rose

One of three defendants charged with embezzling more than $1 million from approximately 112 victims through court-appointed guardianships has waived a preliminary hearing in district court, according to online court records.

Gloria F. Byars is scheduled for formal arraignment March 25 in Media. Her attorney, Sharon Denise Alexander, did not respond to an email Friday seeking comment.

Byars is charged with hundreds of counts of theft, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and failure to make required dispensation of funds. Co-defendants Keith and Carolyn Collins, both pastors of the Church of the Overcomer in Trainer, each face 45 similar charges. Byars is Carolyn Collins’ sister.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Byars was hired by Robert Stump as an office manager for RES Consulting in 2008. Before she was fired in October 2016, Byars allegedly opened a bank account in the name of one person for whom RES had been assigned as guardian and transferred more than $182,000 to an account she controlled.

She also allegedly took files on cases where she assisted as a guardian from the RES office and established a company called ICU Records and Billing, which the affidavit identifies as a “shell company.”

Investigators executed warrants at businesses associated with Byars and discovered $855,964 worth of unauthorized transactions into ICURB, according to her affidavit.

The affidavit alleges additional funds had been funneled into two other shell companies, ACC Medical and CWR Medical, which were depleted and used for personal expenses like Netflix, trips and hotel stays.

Investigators also discovered $28,739 had been issued from ICURB to the Church of the Overcomer between June 2015 and February 2017, according to the affidavit. Keith and Carolyn Collins, of the first block of Princeton Avenue in Ridley Park, also owned and operated another guardianship company, Pinnacle Guardians LLC, according to the affidavits. Carolyn Collins allegedly deposited at least two checks from the bank accounts of two different wards in March 2016 totaling $8,986 into an ICURB account for unknown reasons.

Pinnacle was stripped of all guardianship cases in Delaware County in February 2017, after a nursing home complained it was not receiving Social Security payments for a 94-year-old ward living there.

An investigation revealed 18 of 25 wards assigned to Pinnacle had suffered approximately $110,319 worth of unauthorized transactions between November 2016 and May 2017, according to the Carolyn Collins affidavit.

The total amount of fraud alleged comes to $1,009,172 and involves 112 victims in Philadelphia, Delaware, Bucks, Berks, Montgomery and Lancaster counties. All of the alleged victims are over the age of 60 and many are in their 80s and 90s.

Keith Collins, a longtime staple of the church community and Democratic candidate in the 2011 County Council race, denied the allegations when he was arrested in October.

“I’m a pastor and if there were donations made, people are allowed to make donations to the church,” he told reporters outside the county courthouse in Media.

“Each defendant has their own situation,” said Keith Collins’ defense attorney Enrique Latoison Friday. “This is not a ‘conspiracy’ where everyone is working together. Byars, she did what she did. Keith, as far as I’m concerned, is 100 percent innocent.”

Latoison said his client never had a guardianship assigned to him and he does not intend on waiving a preliminary hearing in that case, scheduled for April 2 before Magisterial District Judge Elisa C. Lacianca.

Michael Dugan, representing Carolyn Collins, said he likewise intends to litigate the case on behalf of his client on that same date. While people waive preliminary hearings for different reasons, Dugan said, he believed in this case it was indicative of Byars’ culpability.

Court records indicate Keith and Carolyn Collins posted 10% of $100,000 bail Oct. 23, while Byars posted 10% of $500,000 bail Nov. 8.

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Defendant in $1M embezzlement scheme waives prelim

Police: She bought new home, car, went on 'nice vacations.' Meanwhile, employee checks bounced, taxes weren't paid and utilities were cut

Melinda R. Bixler

The owner of two West Manchester Township elder-care companies — one a nonprofit — spent money earmarked for indigent elderly people to buy herself a home, put her son through drug rehab and give to family members, West Manchester Township Police said.

Melinda R. Bixler bought a new Lexus and took her three children and boyfriend on "very nice vacations" to Australia and the Caribbean, according to charging documents.

She created two businesses, both located at 4070 W. Market St., police said — Elder Healthcare Solutions and the nonprofit Adult Care Advocates.

The purpose of the nonprofit was to provide financial assistance to clients in need, such as helping clients with rent money after a lengthy hospital stay, police said, while Elder Healthcare Solutions provided power-of-attorney services for people unable to manage their own financial affairs.

"I am in the process of reviewing the allegations contained within the criminal complaint," her defense attorney, Chris Ferro, told The York Dispatch. "This is a complicated matter. Further comment at this time on the substance of the charges would not be appropriate."

Seven felonies: Bixler, 47, of the 1600 block of South Wyndham Drive in Spring Garden Township, remains free on $200,000 bail, charged with seven first-degree felonies — three corrupt organization offenses, theft by deception, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, conspiracy to commit theft and receiving stolen property, according to court records.

Charging documents state she bought her current home for $685,000 and used money she embezzled to do so. The 6,500-square-foot home has five bedrooms and 4½ bathrooms, according to Zillow.com.

Bixler, with the help of her 22-year old son, Zachary Bixler, moved money that was bequeathed to Adult Care Advocates to Elder Healthcare's bank account, to her own private bank accounts and co-mingled the money with her son's bank accounts, charging documents allege.

"In fact, the activity was so suspicious on (one) account that (M&T Bank's) Financial Investigation Unit conducted their own investigation into the matter," documents state.

When Zachary Bixler purportedly needed to go to drug rehab, Melinda Bixler allegedly told an employee it was going to cost $14,000, according to documents, which indicated she paid for his rehab stay.

Utilities shut off? Meanwhile, Elder Healthcare Solutions began to struggle financially, documents state — employees' paychecks were bouncing, utilities at the business office were being turned off and taxes weren't being paid, documents state.

Melinda Bixler's credit cards were being refused when she would try to pay for lunches, police allege.

Zachary Bixler remains free on $50,000 unsecured bail, charged with the felonies of being part of a corrupt organization, receiving stolen property and conspiracy to commit theft.

Defense attorney Stephen McDonald, who represents Zachary Bixler, said he had no immediate comment on Monday, Jan. 27.

York County detectives assisted West Manchester Township Police with the investigation.

They began investigating after a former Elder Healthcare employee brought her concerns to authorities, documents indicate.

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Police: She bought new home, car, went on 'nice vacations.' Meanwhile, employee checks bounced, taxes weren't paid and utilities were cut

Lincoln-Lemington woman charged with stealing $100K from father with dementia

Tonya Reid

by  Jonathan D. Silver

A Lincoln-Lemington woman raided her incapacitated father’s checking account, stealing more than $100,000 from his Social Security payments, pension and annuities, authorities said.

Tonya Reid, 51, was charged Wednesday with two felony counts of theft, receiving stolen property, access device fraud and misapplication of entrusted property.

She was arrested Thursday by detectives with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.

In 2016, Ms. Reid was designated as the legal guardian for her father, Walter Daniels, 71, who has dementia, a criminal complaint said.

But instead of using Mr. Daniels’ money to pay for his room and board at LGAR Health & Rehabilitation Center in Turtle Creek, where he moved in July 2017, Ms. Reid spent $106,543.34 on herself, investigators said.

“Once Mr. Daniels was transferred to LGAR, Ms. Reid stopped paying her father’s bills at his new facility,” the complaint said. “LGAR did not receive any money from Ms. Reid [on] behalf of her father.”

Detectives alleged that the money went to pay for Ms. Reid’s vehicle, bank fees, beauty supplies, cell phones, travel, liquor and tuition at the University of Pittsburgh, among other personal expenses.

Investigators said that Mr. Daniels, because of his dementia, had no need for any such items or services.

Mr. Daniels had two guardianship accounts; both were closed with zero balances. Ms. Reid’s signature, the complaint said, was the only one on the bank signature cards.

Authorities were alerted to problems by a complaint in June 2018 from an employee from Allegheny County’s Area Agency on Aging.

Ms. Reid was appointed by the court in July 2016 to be her father’s guardian, responsible for paying his bills. But she was removed by Orphans’ Court in March 2018 and replaced by Ursuline Senior Services, which discovered that Mr. Daniels’ guardianship account had been depleted, the complaint said.

It wasn’t until this past June that Ms. Reid’s attorney, identified in the complaint as Jonathan Orie, filed an accounting of the guardianship account with the court.

Investigators found that while Ms. Reid was her father’s guardian, there were $133,776.76 in deposits, but withdrawals of $138,486.42, leaving the account with a negative balance of $4,700. That included nearly $32,000 that paid for Mr. Daniels’ accommodations at a different senior center before he was moved to LGAR. The rest of the money, authorities said, went to Ms. Reid.

Mr. Orie could not be reached for comment.

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Lincoln-Lemington woman charged with stealing $100K from father with dementia

Lawyer heads to trial for $400G theft from clients

Gregory G. Stagliano

MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A Delaware County personal injury attorney waived arraignment Wednesday on charges that he stole more than $400,000 in settlement funds that were supposed to go to his clients.

Gregory G. Stagliano, 61, of the 500 block of Chaumont Drive in Radnor, is charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft of services, theft by deception, and receiving stolen property, all felonies of the third degree, in allegedly pocketing money that was supposed to go to nine different victims he represented in personal injury cases. Stagliano is additionally charged with unauthorized practice of law.

District Attorney Jack Whelan said when announcing the charges in May that investigators led by county Detective Michele Deery began looking at Stagliano in July 2016, based on a tip from the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Investigators found a similar pattern of theft in each of the nine cases, with Stagliano allegedly depositing funds meant for clients into his own Santander Interest on Lawyers Trust Account for personal use.

In one case, Stagliano received $65,000 that was supposed to go to the victim in a car accident, according to a release from the District Attorney’s office. But prosecutors claim Stagliano paid the victim only $7,500, then warned her to stop contacting him seeking the balance.

“I wish you to cease your continued harassing communications in this regard and if you do not, we will go about it in a different way,” he allegedly told that victim.

An investigation by the Disciplinary Board revealed that Stagliano still owed that victim $40,000. Deery looked into the bank records and found just $133.77 remained in the account, according to the release.

“As prosecutors, we find the violation of his sworn fiduciary responsibly especially disturbing and Mr. Stagliano used this position in order to fund his own lavish lifestyle and pay his own personal debts with his clients’ money,” said Whelan. “Individuals should be able to trust their attorneys and abusing that trust is both unethical and in this case criminal. Today’s arrest of Mr. Stagliano should send a clear message that no one is above the law.”

A pretrial conference date was not immediately available. Anyone who believes they also have been victimized by Stagliano is urged to contact Deery at 610-891-8745.

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Lawyer heads to trial for $400G theft from clients

More felony charges filed against disbarred attorney

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - Five more people have come forward, claiming to have been victimized by a disbarred attorney who was originally arrested last spring for allegedly misusing money meant for a woman in Berks County.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced Friday additional felony charges against Patrick Bradley. Those charges include dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, and receiving stolen property.

Bradley, 45, of Collegeville, was arrested on April 10 for the alleged theft and misappropriation of $146,917.01 in client funds. Publicity surrounding the case led to the discovery of five additional victims, with losses totaling $13,954.19, Steele said.

Bradley was authorized to use the money to pay the living expenses of a woman in a facility in Berks County, however, he instead used it to pay for his utility and cell phone bills, restaurant meals, gas, and retail purchases, Steele said.

"These victims believed they were paying for legal work by a reputable attorney who was in good standing and licensed," Steele said. "Instead, the defendant took money for work he was not authorized to perform, never fully performed or that he stole funds he was to safeguard for the benefit of an individual. He took advantage of good people for his own gain."

Bradley is free on $50,000 bail. He's due in court for a preliminary hearing on August 22.

In the meantime, Steele said there may be more than the 17 victims located, so far. Anyone with information concerning questionable legal interactions or use of their funds by Bradley is asked to call the Montgomery County detectives at 610-278-3368.

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More felony charges filed against disbarred attorney