Adviser, 35, charged with exploiting the elderly

William Cabral was about a year into his Alzheimer’s diagnosis and could no longer drive a car, remember his address or identify relatives by name when David Del Rio, an employee at a bank where Cabral and his wife did business, became the elderly couple’s power of attorney and sole beneficiary, an arrest report shows.

That was in March 2015. Within 18 months, five-figure sums began disappearing from the retired Highland Beach couple’s accounts, the report said.

That figure would grow to nearly $900,000 between September 2016 and March 2018, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office.

Del Rio, 35, of Lehigh Acres, was

arrested Thursday near Fort Myers in Lee County.

Although neither of the Cabrals is still alive, Del Rio was accused of fleecing the couple of $893,673 and charged with more than two dozen felony counts, ranging from grand theft, money laundering and exploitation of the elderly. He was booked into the Palm Beach County jail Monday, records show.

William Cabral died in April 2017 at age 87. Nothing was suspicious about his death.

Elizabeth “Betty” Cabral, however, was killed in April 2018. The body of the 85-year-old woman was found in her Penthouse Highlands condo. Her killer used a knife, stole her car and left no signs of forced entry, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. No arrests have been made in her death and the investigation is ongoing.

The couple, wed for more than 50 years and financially well off, had no children. They moved from Cambridge, Mass., to Highland Beach, a community between Boca Raton and Delray Beach, records show.

Del Rio is accused of befriending the couple while he worked at a bank they had transferred their funds to, gaining their trust, becoming their financial adviser and swindling them of nearly $1 million.

Del Rio’s arrest report does not say what bank he worked at but it does show that the fraudulent transactions were drawn from the Cabrals’ accounts at Bank of America and SunTrust and were deposited into Del Rio’s Bank of America account.

Del Rio used the Cabrals’ money to pay for more than 405 personal transactions, according to the report from the Sheriff ’s Office.

Aside from a $30,000 payment on a 2017 Audi A8, Del Rio allegedly used the money to buy guns, pay off credit cards and make payments to Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, the report said.