Twin Cities Couple Bilked $200,000 From Elderly Mother

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Roseville man and his wife with bilking his elderly mother out of almost $200,000.

Gregory and Kelly Harrington were both charged Thursday with felony financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

According to the criminal complaint, Gregory's 94-year-old mother gave the couple power of attorney in 2015 before she moved into a senior living development. The woman had $380,000 in savings then.

Investigators determined the couple spent about $197,000 of that on expenses that didn't benefit her. They depleted her savings so much that she couldn't pay her living expenses. The couple moved her into an 8-foot-by-10-foot room in their basement that was just big enough for a bed, chair and television, the complaint said.

The couple maintained that they reached a family agreement that they could spend the woman's money.

(© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)