Nurse accused of theft from patient denies all wrongdoing
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> An Aston woman on trial for allegedly stealing more than $88,000 from an ailing neighbor she helped care for strenuously denied any wrongdoing Thursday.
Melissa Deal, 43, of Victoria Drive in Aston, claims her 79-year-old neighbor, James Mooney, insisted she accept two $10,000 checks for her and her husband and that she be added as a beneficiary on an IRA account just two days before Mooney’s death.
Deal, who gained power of attorney over Mooney’s finances and was named executrix of his estate Oct. 1, 2013, is facing charges including theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property and conspiracy.
Mooney was suffering from end-stage prostate cancer when he came to live with his daughter, Jacqueline Desher, in early September 2013. Desher’s neighbor, Deal, is a nurse and was hired to assist in Mooney’s care at $30 per hour. She was paid $1,000 up front.
Mooney changed his will Oct. 1, 2013, and named Desher, her daughter Kim, and Kim’s three children as beneficiaries. The jury watched a video recording of that will being enacted in which attorney Natalie Dziobczynski asked Mooney if there was anyone else he wished to leave anything to. “Not a soul,” he replied. Deal noted another of Mooney’s daughters did also receive $95,000 from another IRA account following his death, however.
Much of Deal’s testimony centered on the care she provided Mooney in the month before his death. She said she kept detailed notes on the hours worked and services performed.
Deal said she went to Desher’s home between 1:07 and 1:51 p.m. Oct. 10 in an attempt to change the beneficiaries on a Fidelity Investments account from “the estate of J. Mooney” to the grandchildren and Jacqueline and Kim Desher.
The change was allegedly suggested by Dziobczynski so that the funds could quickly and easily move to the beneficiaries. Deal said Kim Desher had texted her the Social Security numbers and other information she would need for herself and her children, and Jacqueline Desher provided her own information Oct. 10.
Deal said she sat with Mooney as he attempted to make the necessary changes, but was unable to. During that meeting, she said Mooney wanted to give her money to take care of him for the next six to nine months because he might not be able to do it himself as time progressed. He also wanted to make a gift to her husband, according to Deal, and add her to his Fidelity account.
“We fought about it because I am not one to take money,” Deal said.
Mooney allegedly refused to write the checks out, so Deal said she wrote and signed both for him under her power of attorney. Deal said the check to her husband was a “gift for care” that he would also render Mooney, though Assistant District Attorney Tom Lawrie noted Richard Deal had no such arrangement with Mooney and the check memo line only used the phrase “per Jim, gift.”
Deal said she did not initially cash the checks because she wanted to speak with Dziobczynski about their propriety, but did deposit them following Mooney’s death.
Jacqueline Desher testified
Melissa Deal, 43, of Victoria Drive in Aston, claims her 79-year-old neighbor, James Mooney, insisted she accept two $10,000 checks for her and her husband and that she be added as a beneficiary on an IRA account just two days before Mooney’s death.
that Mooney had become uncommunicative by Oct. 10 and had slept that entire day. Desher said Deal came by in the evening and used a laptop computer while Mooney slept, but she could not see what Deal was doing. Desher said Deal did not communicate at all with Mooney that day.
Deal claimed she returned to the house at 8:15 p.m. and sat with Mooney as he entered the information on his laptop, adding the beneficiaries to the IRA account, but did not handle the computer herself.
“I sat next to Jim, Jim sat on the bed,” she said. “Jim entered the stuff, when he needed help with the tab, I moved the tab to where it needed to be. We get down to the fifth person … and I said, ‘Are you finished? Go ahead and hit verify.’ He said, ‘I’m not finished yet.’ I said, ‘What’s the issue, Jim?’ and he goes, ‘You’re not added.’”
Deal said she protested, but eventually helped Mooney enter the information and told Jacqueline Desher she had been added as a beneficiary before she left that night.
Lawrie estimated that Deal’s total compensation from Mooney’s estate came to roughly $107,000. Deal said she would have returned the IRA account money and the two $10,000 checks, but no one ever asked her to.
The family did dispute the Fidelity account change in a civil filing, however, which was later resolved by stipulation that provided Deal with $56,450. Kim Desher and her mother said they decided to stop fighting the beneficiary change because it had become too expensive to do so.
Deal also allegedly used some of the estate proceeds to cover lawyer’s fees in that dispute, as well as $10,000 worth of work provided by the firm of Musi, Malone & Daubenberger L.L.P. that was identified on checks as relating to a county criminal investigation.
Attorney William Malone previously told defense attorney Lindsay McDonald that an executrix is entitled to compensation for the work and in this case, Dziobczynski determined Deal’s commission should be $30,028. Several attorneys testified that it is common for an executor or executrix to take part of the commission prior to closing.
The attorneys are expected to give closing remarks this morning and put the case to the jury.