Guilty Plea in Shocking Financial Exploitation Case
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Twin Cities area man has pleaded guilty to financial exploitation after he wheeled his invalid mother into a bank two years ago to withdraw money hours before she died.
The Pioneer Press reports 59-year-old David John Vanzo of Plymouth pleaded guilty to one count of financial exploitation over $35,000.
Bank employees told investigators Vanzo's mother was slumped over, unresponsive and dragging her feet when Vanzo pushed her wheelchair out the door after making an $850 withdrawal from her account Jan. 5, 2015.
Vanzo began living with his mother in 2007 and was granted power of attorney over her finances in 2012. He took about $260,000 from his mother's financial accounts and through a reverse mortgage on her house until she died.
Vanzo is expected to be sentenced Feb. 21 to three and a half years in prison.