Missoula man accused of stealing nearly $10K from elderly neighbor
- Updated
A Missoula man accused of gambling away thousands of dollars belonging to his elderly neighbor muttered "I hate that (expletive)" as he walked out of Justice Court during his initial appearance Friday.
Jeffery Dean Poole, 55, faces felony charges of exploiting an older person and tampering with a witness for allegedly coming into his neighbor's home "in the dead of night" and demanding she drop the charges.
"The state is alleging that the defendant steadily took thousands of dollars from the victim over a period of several months to support a gambling and drinking addiction while acting as her power of attorney," Deputy Missoula County Attorney Selene Koepke said during Poole's initial appearance.
He was arrested Thursday evening, but posted a $5,000 bond and remains free.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the woman, who suffers from dementia and has had multiple strokes, wrote more than $3,200 in checks to the man between July and September 2014 for repairs or for wheelchair ramp material for her home.
However, between June and November last year, the woman was hospitalized and only authorized Poole to use pre-signed checks to pay her household bills, court documents stated.
Last September, the woman gave Poole power of attorney over her bank account. Starting last October and continuing until May, Poole wrote $2,485 in checks to Stone of Accord, where Poole allegedly gambles.
Another $3,400 in checks also were written by Poole and included cash withdrawals, court documents stated.
Investigators subpoenaed and reviewed gambling records from the Emerald Casino at the Stone of Accord and noted Poole gambled in the casino each of the 21 days he cashed a check from the woman's account there.
On some of those days, he allegedly spent more than seven hours in the casino, court documents stated.
The woman was also interviewed by detectives and claimed she was in an intimate relationship with Poole. When she saw copies of the checks, however, she said she hadn't given Poole or his wife permission to sign them on her behalf.
She further noted Poole pressured her to give him items of value in her home, including a .38 caliber handgun, a silverware set, a bread machine and three cameras, court documents stated.
He also repeatedly asked her to leave her house to him in a will, she said.
When a detective told her that Poole had taken almost $10,000 from her, the woman became "visibly upset, verbally chastising herself for having trusted Poole."
When a detective interviewed Poole on July 24, however, he denied being in an intimate relationship with the woman, as well as many of the allegations. He said the checks were for expenses he incurred while helping her with maintenance, repairs and purchases.
"Poole claimed he could not provide receipts for any of those transactions because (the neighbor) shredded all of them," court documents stated.
He denied gambling recently and said he didn't drink while he gambled, but according to surveillance video and employee reports, Poole gambled at the Emerald Casino about three times a week.
Employees said he was a regular and his favorite drink was vodka and Squirt.
On July 27, Poole allegedly entered the woman's home and called her a derogatory name, demanding she drop the case, court documents stated. On his way out the door, he opened the freezer and threw food items on the ground before leaving.
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