Woman Accused Of Abusing POA By Misspending Institution-Bound Dad's Money; Gov't May Seize Family Home To Cover Nursing Home Bills

In Elkhorn, Nebraska, WOWT-TV Channel 6 reports:

• Regina Garcia has power of attorney over her father’s retirement fund. Now she needs an attorney after being charged with misspending almost $16,000 of that money. [...] Garcia’s elderly father is an Alzheimer’s patient who owes nearly $20,000 to an Elkhorn nursing home. She’s accused of using his retirement money to pay her own bills instead of his.

• Douglas county attorney Don Kleine said, “They’re being taken advantage of, they’re being exploited by someone who understands they have this amount of money and take it from them not for the benefit of the person who has the incapacity but for themselves.”

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• The county attorney is concerned that if Garcia’s father can’t pay his nursing home bill then taxpayers will have to pick up the cost. Garcia claims the government is in the process of seizing her father’s home to pay for his nursing home cost. If convicted of the charge of Abuse of a Vulnerable Adult she faces up to five years in prison.

For the story, see Daughter Charged With Stealing Dad's Retirement (Nursing home bill past due).