Wanted Woman Located In Georgia, Charged In NC With Illegally Clipping HELOC Cash From Dead Stepfather's Estate, Leaving Home In Foreclosure

In Alamance County, North Carolina, The Burlington Times News reports:

• A woman was charged Tuesday with allegedly accessing more than $49,000 from an equity line that was linked to her dead stepfather’s estate. Melissa Dawn Ruffell, 49, of Kingsland, Ga., was charged by the Alamance County Sheriff’s Department with identity theft, obtaining property by false pretenses, felony accessing computers and failure to produce a will, according to warrants.
• After the warrants were issued, Ruffell was considered wanted and U.S. Marshals located her in Georgia. She was brought back to Alamance County and placed in jail under $60,000 bond, said Alamance County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Tim Britt.
• Ruffell was originally taking care of her stepfather, James T. Isley, of Carolina Street, Graham. Isley died in October 2008. Isley had a will and most of his estate was left to his daughter, who lives in Jamestown, N.Y. Ruffell allegedly had a copy of Isley’s will but failed to produce it for law enforcement, Britt said.
• Ruffell is accused of using her position after her stepfather’s death to access the equity line on Isley’s home. She allegedly used his Social Security number and account number to access $49,500. The equity line went into default in February 2010. At that time, representatives from BB&T, the bank handling the equity line, contacted the sheriff’s department.
• “The house went into foreclosure for exceeding the equity line after his death,” Britt said.

Source: Woman accused of stealing from dead stepfather's estate.