Hamilton woman pleads guilty to stealing from senior
A Hamilton woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing nearly $50,000 from her hospitalized neighbour, whose cat she’d agreed to take care of.
Denise Lavergne, 50, stole just over $47,000 from her 80-year-old neighbour Moyra Graham between February and May 2013, court heard.
“Moyra was like a mother to me,” Lavergne told the court.
Graham died in assisted living in November 2013, less than six months after Lavergne was arrested and charged with theft and fraud over $5,000 and five counts of utter- ing a forged document. This was Lavergne’s first offence. In an agreed statement of f acts, assistant Crown attorney Anthony Leitch said Lavergne would routinely help her neighbour with chores around her house, just across the street from Lavergne’s home on the Mountain.
After Graham had a stroke in 2012, Lavergne started taking her to doctors’ appointments, and running errands for her.
When Graham was hospitalized for a second stroke, she gave Lavergne her debit card and PIN code, court heard. Lavergne was to use the card to take care of Graham’s cat, and to deal with household expenses.
However, Lavergne would routinely withdraw cash from Graham’s account, close to the account’s daily limit. She also wrote five cheques to herself in the amount of $500, forging Graham’s signature. The Crown attorney did not mention what Lavergne spent the money on. Outside of court Lavergne declined to comment further about her case.
Court heard Graham’s power of attorney, John Graham, noticed transfers to Lavergne’s account and reported it to police.
None of Graham’s family attended the hearing.
Graham was still alive during the police investigation, though she was in a bad state, Leitch said.
“She barely knew her own name at the time,” he said.
Lavergne, a mother of two with two grandchildren, was arrested by the Hamilton police Crimes Against Seniors Unit (CASU) in June 2013.
Det. Mike Page was one of the lead detectives on the investigation. He said that crimes like this are quite common, and are particularly difficult to investigate.
“In this instance, the victim was really confused, and really couldn’t tell me what happened,” he said, adding seniors are more vulnerable to crime because they tend to be more trusting than other groups.
According to a 2014 CASU report, financial exploitation and fraud are among the most common crimes against seniors reported to police.
Lavergne was one of 13 people charged by CASU in 2013. In 2014, 10 people were charged, with 28 charges against them.
This sort of crime usually comes with jail time, Leitch said, even for first-offenders like Lavergne. However, because of the complexity of this case and the close relationship between Lavergne and Graham, the plea deal included no jail time.
As part of the plea deal, Lavergne was sentenced to three years of parole and 150 hours of community service. She was ordered to pay restitution to Graham’s estate in increments of $300 per month, starting in August.