A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a former Hawaii woman accused of stealing "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from her elderly and ill mother. Woman allegedly steals
her elderly mom’s assets
By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.comLetitia McKee Cooper, 57, believed to be in Southern California, was indicted yesterday by an Oahu grand jury for first-degree theft and second-degree forgery.
City prosecutors say this is the first case of financial fraud abuse against an elder prosecuted by their office.
Cooper allegedly used power of attorney to systematically empty all of her mother's accounts and safe deposit boxes of their contents, including stocks, bonds, jewelry and coins, sometime between Jan. 1, 2000, and June 1, 2000.
Cooper also allegedly transferred title of two burial plots at Diamond Head Memorial Park in her mother's name to her name.
Prosecutors could not give an exact amount of the theft. "But we have a good-faith basis to assert that there were some hundreds of thousands of dollars taken from the victim, Ella McKee," said Deputy Prosecutor Stephen Niwa.
According to the indictment, the forgery count stemmed from Cooper signing a document on May 24, 2000, that purported to terminate the lease of a residence, Niwa said.
Niwa successfully argued that bail be set at $100,000, based on the large amount of money believed to have been stolen and because he believes Cooper is "well-funded" and a flight risk.
Cooper was born in Hawaii, but apparently left at the age of 19. She kept sporadic contact with her mother and stayed with cousins when she visited here, Niwa told the court yesterday.
McKee, 89, a longtime Hawaii resident, had worked at Pearl Harbor as a civil service worker and more recently was hospitalized for an undisclosed illness. Cooper allegedly had made plans to leave Hawaii for the mainland a day after her mother was to be released from the hospital, Niwa said, but made no long-term plans for her mother's care.
A caregiver was provided for two months, after which payments were stopped, Niwa said. The caregiver, however, continued to care for McKee for up to seven months at her own expense, then moved McKee to Southern California to live with family members.
Niwa said abuse cases in which family members are the perpetrators sometimes aren't going to be reported.