Opinion ID: 4529972
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Conner’s Fraud

Text: In March 2016, Conner and Fauntleroy met through Fauntleroy’s 96-year-old brother. In 2015, Fauntleroy suffered a stroke after which she became dependent on round-the-clock care. Short on cash, Fauntleroy relied on her brother’s recommendation that she retain Conner to help. Conner signed a power of attorney agreement (the “POA Agreement”) with Fauntleroy, which authorized him to manage Fauntleroy’s finances and to pay her bills. The POA Agreement required Conner to exercise the power of 3 attorney “for the benefit” of Fauntleroy, to keep his assets separate from Fauntleroy’s, and to “exercise reasonable caution and prudence.” App. 451, 885. Upon assuming control of Fauntleroy’s assets, Conner promptly violated each of these terms. As the first step of his fraudulent scheme, Conner consolidated Fauntleroy’s cash assets into two Wells Fargo accounts. Conner requested $10,000 from Fauntleroy’s brother, which Conner deposited into Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo checking account. Conner then added himself as signatory to Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo checking account, opened a new Wells Fargo savings account for which he also made himself a signatory, and applied for and obtained a Wells Fargo rewards card, all purportedly on behalf of Fauntleroy. Around the same time, Conner assumed control of an annuity that Fauntleroy had set up at Delaware Life Insurance Company (“Delaware Life”) for her niece. The value of the annuity was $112,794.58. Conner then directed Delaware Life to liquidate the annuity and to transfer all the funds to the Wells Fargo savings account that Conner had opened in Fauntleroy’s name. Having consolidated Fauntleroy’s assets into the Wells Fargo accounts, Conner used Fauntleroy’s money to fund his gambling habit. On the same day that Fauntleroy had to be hospitalized for a medical condition, Conner used Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo card to withdraw $200 in cash that he used for gambling at the Parx Casino in Pennsylvania. After losing the first $200, Conner withdrew an additional $60 from Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo accounts. Over approximately eight months, Conner made at 4 least 176 withdrawals from Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo checking account at four different casinos in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He made these funds available to himself via transfers that he initiated from Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo savings account to her checking account. Fauntleroy’s savings account is the same account where Conner deposited the $10,000 from Fauntleroy’s brother and the $112,794.58 from the now liquidated annuity at Delaware Life. On January 25, 2017, Conner made his final transfer from Fauntleroy’s savings account to her checking account. By that time, Fauntleroy’s savings account only had $261.30. Conner also made cash withdrawals from Fauntleroy’s accounts at locations other than casinos. In total, including the transactions at casinos and other debits, Conner’s actions resulted in $105,632.01 debited from Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo accounts. Conner did, however, make several deposits into Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo accounts. On December 28, 2016, after he had already withdrawn $65,976.35 at casinos, Conner deposited $2,000 into Fauntleroy’s checking account. In total, before Fauntleroy discovered his fraudulent scheme, Conner had deposited a total of $23,000 into her Wells Fargo accounts. As he was spending his time and Fauntleroy’s money at casinos, Fauntleroy’s financial situation withered significantly. On multiple occasions, checks that Conner wrote to Fauntleroy’s caretakers bounced. Fauntleroy’s live-in caretaker testified that due to Conner’s neglect, Fauntleroy lost electricity at one point and that her water supply 5 was almost suspended. By April 24, 2017, Fauntleroy’s Wells Fargo checking account had only $15.07, and her savings account was empty. Her accounts thus depleted, Fauntleroy, with the assistance of her caretaker and her family, removed Conner as her power of attorney and removed him as a signatory on her Wells Fargo accounts. Thereafter, Fauntleroy and her family refused to have contact with Conner. Thus rebuffed, Conner, using funds that had come from his wife’s bank account, mailed Fauntleroy a certified check for $67,708.15.