Punxsutawney, PA – A Summerville couple are being charged with fraudulently taking more than $111,000 from a woman by becoming her “power of attorney” before she died.
The Pennsylvania State Police in collaboration with the Jefferson County District Attorney Jeff Burkett’s Office have arrested two people regarding a theft and fraud investigation.
Through deceptive and fraudulent acts, the suspects are accused of taking $111,729.18 from the victim, a 77-year-old woman who has since passed away.
Investigation revealed that 49-year-old Charles Robert Douglas Jr. and 51-year-old Lisa Lynn Douglas from Summerville had persuaded to put Charles Douglas Jr. into the role of power of attorney.
This happened when the victim, 77-year-old Marie Ella Douglas from Pomfret, MD, had been deemed “incapacitated” mentally as a result of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease by medical professionals.
Through deceptive and fraudulent acts, they drained the victim’s financial accounts from April 2015 to June 2017.
On March 10, Charles and Lisa Douglas were charged with:
- Theft by unlawful taking or disposition
- Theft by deception
- Receiving stolen property
- Theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received
- Securing execution of documents by deception
