Woman says kin’s alleged theft haunts her

Woman says kin’s alleged theft haunts her SHEENA DELAZIO LARKSVILLE – Louise Mary Olenik moved into her Sondra Drive home eight years ago with her husband, expecting to live out their lives there together. But now the house has a for sale sign in the front yard, while Olenik worries daily about how she’s going to pay her bills. The worries for Olenik began, she said, just about a year ago when her niece allegedly began taking a total of $107,000 from the recently widowed woman Olenik, 79, also said Monday it’s like a “slap in the face” to see her niece’s life unchanged, and that she may be part owner of a clothing boutique in Edwardsville. Marisa Harlen, 29, of Kingston, is awaiting trial on one count of receiving stolen property in Luzerne County Court. At a November preliminary hearing, Harlen said the thefts came, in part, due to a gambling addiction. “If I could take back what happened, I would,” Harlen said in November, noting she intended to pay back the money to her aunt and plead guilty to taking the money. “It’s all because of a gambling addiction.” Harlen is tentatively scheduled to appear in Luzerne County court on April 4. Harlen and her attorney, Joseph Yeager, were could not be reached for comment Monday. Olenik said Monday she believes her niece is part owner of the Park Avenue Boutique in the Gateway Shopping Center, Edwardsville. A Times Leader reporter stopped at the store Monday afternoon between posted store hours of 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. and the store was locked and dark inside. A woman who answered the store’s phone Monday evening did not know if Harlen is an owner of the store. A newspaper advertisement on the front door, however, showed Harlen’s photo and her name listed with two other women, and that the store would offer $5 off to anyone who presented the coupon. Olenik said she had to put her home on the market about two months ago for just over $230,000 because she is no longer able to afford the house and the 24-hour at-home nurse’s aide she requires. Olenik, who has health problems and suffered from a stroke a few years ago, said her husband’s last words included if investigators had charged Harlen. “I miss him more and more each day,” Olenik said of her husband, who passed away in December. “He would probably have no words for what’s going on now.” Olenik said she and her husband worked their entire lives – he as a carpenter, plumber and mechanic and she as a government employee. They saved their money and eight years ago bought the Sondra Drive house where they planned to live the rest of their lives. Olenik said now she must sell the furnishings and her house to pay her bills and worries how she will pay to live in a nursing home or pay for 24-hour nurse care. “I think about it every minute. Here, I thought I had it made, and then, I had nothing,” she said. She was alerted to the stolen money when she and her husband tried applying for veteran’s assistance, Olenik said. She said they went to the bank and learned the most recent withdrawal in April was a few thousand dollars at the Mohegan Sun Casino at Pocono Downs. Olenik said she trusted Harlen – one of three nieces and among only a few relatives Olenik has – because Harlen has a college degrees in finance and criminal justice. Now, with attorney’s fees, having to change her power of attorney, and daily living costs, she worries about each penny she spends, even on a food order. “It consumes my life at this point,” Olenik said. She also wonders why Harlen’s case hasn’t progressed and she hopes Harlen will be able to make a restitution payment in full – instead of smaller monthly payments. “I want it all,” Olenik said. “I hope with all my heart she is planning on paying back the money.”