Unlawful Use Of POA To Get Reverse Mortgage On 90-Year Old Mom's Home Among Charges Facing Clemson Councilwoman

In Clemson, South Carolina, the Greenville News reports:

• A Clemson city councilwoman was arrested [...] and charged with several counts of fraud in what authorities allege was a scheme to solicit money to pay for her daughter's legal troubles by claiming in part that her daughter had cancer. Elouise James, 66, [...] was charged in Greenville and Pickens counties with two counts of forgery, two counts of obtaining goods by false pretenses and one count each of obstruction of justice and financial exploitation of an adult, according to arrest warrants.

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• [13th Circuit Solicitor Bob] Ariail said that in an effort to help her daughter avoid legal problems, James “misrepresented that her daughter had cancer and collected money on her daughter's behalf, forged a statement from the Cancer Centers of the Carolinas to avoid her daughter's prosecution … and used her power of attorney to obtain a reverse mortgage on her mother's home in order to pay restitution and probation fees for her daughter.”(1)

For the story, see Clemson councilwoman Elouise James faces fraud charges.

(1) Reportedly, a warrant charges that James unlawfully used power of attorney in relation to her 90-year-old mother to take out a reverse mortgage on her mother's home and used the $15,000 from the mortgage to pay her daughter's restitution balance a few days before a probation revocation hearing.