TRENTON - Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) today announced that a California woman has been charged with stealing more than $87,000 from her elderly mother, who resides in an assisted living facility in Wayne, N.J.
Pamela M. Land, 68, of La Canada, California, who had been serving as her mother’s power of attorney, was indicted on charges of misapplication of entrusted property, and theft by unlawful taking, both in the second degree.
The indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobsen in Mercer County yesterday.
According to prosecutors, the elderly woman had given her daughter unfettered access to her financial assets to oversee funding for her continued stay at an assisted living facility for patients suffering from dementia.
Instead of paying for her mother’s care, prosecutors allege, Land racked up debt on the elderly woman’s credit cards and drained her bank account to fund shopping sprees and pay Land’s daily expenses.
According to prosecutors, Land stole approximately $87,746 while acting as power of attorney for her mother between May 2013 and January 2016.
Instead of making monthly payments to the residential facility where her mother lived, as she was required to do under a contract with the facility, Land allegedly accessed her mother’s money to make purchases for herself and to pay her own bills.
She also used her mother’s credit cards for goods and services she herself received, and used her mother’s money to make payments on those cards, which were eventually closed for non-payment of outstanding balances, according to prosecutors.
Second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to ten years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000, authorities say.