MONTGOMERY — A Gadsden woman pleaded guilty Friday for taking $2.5 million from her elderly mother.
Gina Cook Gilbert, 63, of Gadsden, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of Financial Exploitation in the First Degree, a Class B felony, according to the office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. Gilbert was the conservator of Patricia Jerome’s financial accounts.
“Elderly citizens deserve to be protected and taken care of when they are unable to care for themselves without worrying that their caregiver is exploiting them,” Marshall said in a news statement. “Unfortunately, this can even happen when the caregiver is a family member. We cannot allow those who take advantage of the elderly to go unpunished, and I will continue to fight to make sure we hold those accountable who have accepted the responsibility to care for another person.”
According to Marshall’s office, Gilbert had been made conservator over the financial account of her mother in October 2014. Less than four years after being appointed conservator over the account, it was discovered that Gilbert used Jerome’s financial resources for her own personal expenses and breached her fiduciary duties in caring for her mother’s resources.
During a civil lawsuit concerning the conservatorship and the subsequent criminal investigation, Gilbert admitted that she was unable to account for more than $2.5 million of her mother’s financial resources, Marshall said.
Although Gilbert repaid the stolen funds at the conclusion of the civil case, her mother died before Gilbert was held accountable for taking advantage of her position as conservator, the statement said.
After pleading guilty to the Class B felony, Gilbert was sentenced to 5 years in the Alabama Department of Corrections and ordered to serve two years of probation.
Attorney General Steve Marshall commended his Criminal Trials Division for its successful prosecution, specifically Deputy Attorney General John Kachelman, as well as the Attorney General’s Investigations Division.
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