Photo: Daniel Roy Meeks
A Marion County man who was arrested and charged with bilking a terminally ill elderly woman out of thousands of dollars appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday. He entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him.
Sixty-two-year-old Daniel Roy Meeks of Flippin was arrested July 10. He is accused in both Baxter and Marion counties of using a scheme to bilk the woman of slightly more than $40,000. A not guilty plea was entered for him in Marion County Circuit Court Wednesday by his attorney, Ben Burnett.
In an interview with Marion County investigators, Meeks proclaimed himself the woman’s son “under biblical technicalities.”
The Baxter County charges stem from Meeks going to an unsuspecting Cotter lawyer to draw up a “legal will” and to complete paperwork giving him power of attorney over the woman’s affairs.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the attorney said Meeks came to his office alone, but reported his “aged mother” was outside in his car.
The attorney went to the car and spoke to a woman about the arrangements Meeks had requested. The attorney said the woman indicated it was what she wanted and signed the paperwork.
When the attorney was made aware of what had happened, he told investigators Meeks had “misled and deceived” him to get the victim’s signature on documents “against her financial interest and to benefit only himself.”
In Baxter County, Meeks is charged with obtaining a signature for deception, a Class D felony, based on the activity in Cotter.
In Marion County, Meeks faces theft by deception charges.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the Marion County case, it is alleged Meeks had initially wormed his way into the woman’s life in October 2019 when he was recommended to do renovations to the woman’s home.
The relationship “escalated quickly” to a point the victim was claiming Meeks as her son.
It is alleged Meeks used COVID-19 as a reason to keep the victim isolated from out-of-state family members.
When the victim was admitted to Baxter Regional Medical Center April 30, doctors contacted family members in California to inform them of the womans condition and to recommend they obtain temporary guardianship of their relative because of her serious medical condition.
The doctors had been approached by Meeks representing himself as the victim’s son and guardian. The physicians, who had been in touch with the family on prior occasions, were suspicious of the claims Meeks was making about his relationship with the woman.
The family began looking into the situation and learned quickly learned that not long after Meeks met the victim, he began to block phone calls and visitation from them citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Documents were discovered supporting the withdrawal of $40,396 from the victim’s account in one bank and where a new account only in Meeks’ name had been set up at another financial institution.
The victim, who was interviewed in Hospice House, told investigators she felt “foolish” that she had been taken in by Meeks. She said she was alone and “when he came around, I felt better.”
She told investigators she did not want to give anything else to Meeks, did not wish for him to be in her will and had no desire to even see him again.
It was Meeks’ idea to start moving money around, and to draw up a new will, the victim told investigators.
She was asked if she knew what was in the new will, and she denied knowledge of the contents of the document. She said Meeks had taken her to the lawyer in Cotter and all she did was sit in the car and sign the document when he asked her to do so.
The victim said Meeks posed as her son at the lawyer’s office in Cotter and that was the reason the changes were accepted.
Investigators said the victim indicated Meeks did a few odd jobs around the house. She said she felt he “worked pretty slow” but paid him anyway.
When he was interviewed, Meeks said the victim had given him money to use as a down payment for a new car, and he had been paid for the work done at her home.
He said moving the victim’s money was done so her family could not gain access to the funds.
Meeks admitted he took the woman to the lawyer’s office in Cotter to draw up the paperwork that basically handed everything over to him.
Meeks was ordered to reappear in Baxter County Circuit Court next Thursday.
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