A Twin Cities man has pleaded guilty to financial exploitation after he wheeled his invalid mother into a bank to withdraw money hours before she died two years ago.
David John Vanzo, 59, of Plymouth pleaded guilty to one count of financial exploitation over $35,000, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Monday.
“We are pleased with the guilty plea today from Mr. Vanzo,” Freeman said in a statement. “It is hard to comprehend how a son could be so greedy as to pack his obviously ailing mother into a taxi and push her into the bank just to obtain a few more dollars. He was her primary care provider and he failed at that, as well. Our office will continue to aggressively prosecute cases like these where people exploit a vulnerable adult.”
Vanzo was scheduled to go on trial Monday morning but opted to plead guilty.
According to the criminal complaint, Vanzo began living with his mother in 2007. He was granted power of attorney over her finances in 2012. From then until his mother died in January 2015, Vanzo took about $260,000 from his mother’s financial accounts and through a reverse mortgage on her house.
According to the complaint, he called police late Jan. 5, 2015, to report that his mother had died. When officers arrived at the home, which “smelled overwhelmingly of urine and feces,” they found Vanzo’s mother lying dead on a soiled bed, still wearing a coat and boots.
Bank employees told investigators Vanzo’s mother was slumped over, unresponsive and dragging her feet when Vanzo pushed her wheelchair out the door that afternoon after making an $850 withdrawal from her account, according to the complaint. The taxi driver who brought Vanzo and his mother to the bank said he took Vanzo to Buffalo Wild Wings immediately after Vanzo brought his mother inside the house.
He will be sentenced Feb. 21 and is expected to receive 42 months in prison.