Minn. Man Charged With Leaving 95-Year Old, Dementia-Suffering Mom Behind In Rent; Accused Of Looting Bank Accounts, Persuading Her To Buy Him House

In Ramsey County, Minnesota, the Pioneer Press reports:

• A 95-year-old Roseville woman, who suffers from dementia, had her bank account frozen and fell behind on rent after her son cashed thousands of dollars in checks from her account, a criminal complaint stated. Joel Allen Berntsen, 58, of Minneapolis, was charged with financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

According to the criminal complaint:

• Berntsen told police he borrowed $290,000 from his mother in 2006 to buy a house in North Oaks. She also gave him $2,000 a month for house payments. But in 2008, the home — which was in his mother's name — went into foreclosure. The IRS later notified his mother that she owed $12,928 in back taxes on the home.

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• In March, Ramsey County Adult Protection said the woman qualified as a vulnerable adult, after a health care worker who took care of her called police because the woman's bank accounts were overdrawn because of the large amount of checks Berntsen cashed. In June 2006, the community organization Lifetrack Resources found the woman to be a vulnerable adult at risk of mental or financial exploitation.

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• Roseville police discovered that the woman was behind on her rent and that several of her checks had bounced because of insufficient funds. A review of her checking account at North Star Bank disclosed that between April 1, 2008, and March 1, 2009, Berntsen cashed 26 checks — 25 of them payable to himself.

For more, see Man charged with financially exploiting 95-year-old mother (Son, 58, charged with exploiting vulnerable adult).

See also, the Star Tribune: Son accused of duping his mom, 95, out of thousands (The charges say he wrote checks on her account and persuaded her to buy him a $290,000 house in North Oaks). FinancialAbuseOfElderlyAlpha