Schenectady County District Attorney Robert M. Carney announced that on March 4, 2024, in Schenectady County Court before Acting Schenectady County Court Judge Mark J. Caruso, defendant Elaine Perkins, a 61-year old female resident of Schenectady, NY, pleaded guilty to one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a Class C felony, for stealing more than $300,000 from her elderly father over the course of several years while his health and mental faculties were in decline.
Specifically, in early to mid-2018, the defendant’s father executed a Power of Attorney (POA) naming his daughter, the defendant, as his primary POA. Around the same time, the elderly father was also diagnosed with dementia. Starting with those events, the defendant became primarily responsible for managing her father’s finances and care. In December 2021, the defendant placed her father into a skilled rehabilitation facility in Hudson, NY, far away from any family or friends.
Family members became concerned about their father’s well-being and that the defendant had been exploiting her father’s financial accounts, which were funded each month by payments from social security and his state and military pensions. The family identified several red flags, including tax liens filed on the father’s home in Schenectady, NY as well as default judgments against the father (who never had credit problems) in connection with defaulted loans. In addition, the family became concerned about the father’s finances because the defendant was evasive when confronted with questions about the credit judgments and tax liens.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, the defendant is expected to receive a sentence of 2 ⅓ to 7 years in state prison. It is also anticipated that the Court will issue restitution orders in the amounts of $311,555 in favor of the now-deceased victim’s estate and $14,908 in favor of the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance (representing the defendant’s tax liabilities on her unreported ill-gotten gains).
The criminal investigation led by the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office was initiated by a complaint made directly to the DA's Office by one of the defendant’s family members. The investigation received substantial assistance from the Office of the New York State Comptroller, the Schenectady County Elder Abuse Enhanced Multi-Disciplinary Team (EMDT) and Brad Hasenauer, a Certified Fraud Examiner and auditor with the accounting firm Bonadio & Co. LLP, who provided critical forensic audit analysis of the numerous financial records obtained and reviewed during the investigation. The investigation determined that the defendant failed to act in her father’s best interest as she was required to do when exercising her rights as Power of Attorney. She failed to pay any of her father’s bills, which explains the tax liens and default judgments. She also failed to pay more than $100,000 to the nursing home where the victim was placed at the defendant’s direction. In sum, the defendant lined her pockets with her fathers’ pension monies, stealing more than $300,000.
The Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office urges anyone who suspects financial exploitation of an elderly, disabled or other vulnerable individual (whether by abusing a Power of Attorney or otherwise) to notify Adult Protective Services, as well as state and local law enforcement, including directly to the Financial Crimes Unit in the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office at (518) 388-4787 or by email at DistrictAttorney@SchenectadyCountyNY.gov.
District Attorney Carney stated, “These crimes are difficult to expose, because they require painstaking investigations involving acquisition of many financial records and accounting analysis. Often, as here, the victim is unable to assist because of dementia or death. Ed Perkins, the victim in this case, was well known in our community. He was a decorated veteran, a proud patriot and one of the nicest gentlemen I have had the honor to meet. It is a shame in his last years his own daughter betrayed his love and trust. I hope that this conviction and sentence obtained by Assistant District Attorney William Lemon, who leads our financial crimes bureau, and his people, will stand as a warning to others of the potential consequences of violating a fiduciary obligation.”
ADA William M. Lemon, Bureau Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit, is prosecuting the case. The defendant is represented by attorney Andrew Safranko.