WEATHERLY, CARBON COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — We are learning more tonight about the investigation into a Carbon County couple who a Federal Grand Jury indicted after allegedly stealing more than one million dollars from the estate of a 93-year-old woman.
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40-year-old Christen Lee Cosgrove and 37-year-old Brian Cosgrove from Weatherly face dozens of charges, including bank fraud and money laundering.
Federal investigators say Christen Lee Cosgrove was the victim's granddaughter and had Power of Attorney over her grandmother's estate.
The I-Team's Andy Mehalshick takes a closer look at the Indictment and talks with legal experts about how families might prevent a similar situation in their lives.
Shameful and criminal, the words being used by some to describe the theft of more than one million dollars from a 93-year-old woman.
One of the accused is the victim's granddaughter.
The 24-page federal indictment details how the Cosgroves allegedly spent more than one million dollars of the victim's money on things like a house, vacations, and they were caught only after the senior living center, where the victim was living, was ready to evict her because of an unpaid bill of some $10,000 dollars.
"At the end of the day, that administrator has a very, very big responsibility to protect the beneficiary and in this case it just didn't happen. It's shameful and criminal," expressed Atty. Greg Fellerman, Former Prosecutor.
That is the reaction from former Luzerne County prosecutor Greg Fellerman after reading the federal grand jury indictment against Christen Lee and Brian Cosgrove from Weatherly.
Federal investigators say that Cristen Lee Cosgrove was given power of attorney over her father's estate.
Her 93-year-old grandmother was the sole beneficiary of her son, Cristen's father's estate.
He passed away and the victim was moved to a senior living home, and according to the federal indictment:
"Between October of 2022 and may of 2023 the Cosgroves went on a spending spree, buying a house, going on expensive vacations, buying a boat, a Winnebago camper, rifle scopes and archery equipment totaling nearly $1.1 million."
"Banks can do this for you, a lawyer somebody can do the job for you. You don't necessarily have to do it. You would think theft, things can go wrong and just aren't caught," stated Atty. Fellerman.
Danielle Keith-Alexandre is executive director of the domestic violence service center in Luzerne County.
She says unfortunately stories like this are not uncommon.
They deal with elderly victims who are taken advantage of by family members. She calls it financial elder abuse.
"They will take over their finance. They will kind of let them be apart from other family members and we have these family members, the elders don't know where to go, they think there's no help because a lot of times these individuals have power of attorney," explained Keith-Alexandre.
The Cosgroves face some 50 years in prison if convicted of these charges which include bank fraud and money laundering. Our attempt to get comment from the Cosgroves have, thus far, been unsuccessful.
The full indictment can be viewed below:
Cosgrove-indictmentDownload
