A Gainesville woman, 39-year-old Amanda Forrest, has been charged with financial exploitation of the elderly.
The Ozark County Times reports the charge stems from accusations Forrest made a false promise last December to care for animals and property belonging to an 80-year-old citizen.
The probable cause statement says on April 20th Dobbs responded to a report of unknown subjects loading items into a truck at a residence on County Road 511. The person who reported the incident also said two vehicles were missing from the property.
Ozark County Sheriff’s investigators learned the owner of the residence had been hospitalized in Mountain Home from January until March, before being transferred to a long-term care facility in Willow Springs.
When an investigator arrived at the residence, he saw tire tracks at the back of the and a broken window on the side of the home.
While he was at the house, a truck arrived carrying Amanda Forrest and two other occupants. The two other passengers in the truck told the officer Forrest had promised them money in exchange for helping her load the stolen items. They also said Forrest told them she had permission to be at the residence.
Forrest admitted to the officer she had taken items from the home, but said she had the owners permission, in order to pay for feeding the owner’s cats and dogs. Based on information from the reporting party and other witnesses, the officer wrote Forrest may have had permission to feed the animals, but not to see any items belonging to the property owner. He added no evidence indicated any money received from the sale of the items ever benefitted the owner or was used to feed his animals.
In the charging document, Forrest is accused of promising performance the defendant did not intend to perform or knew would not be performed and thereby knowingly obtained control of two motor vehicles, household appliances and furniture … with the intent to permanently deprive the victim of the use of the property.
Forrest is scheduled to appear in court August 8th.
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