(Stillwater, Okla.) – A Payne County jury consisting of six women and six men convicted a 74-year-old Cushing woman of illegally obtaining about $350,000 from a now-deceased elderly woman’s bank accounts – while serving as her accountant and overseer of her trust fund.
Jurors deliberated for about three hours before finding Lorna M. Myers guilty of two counts of exploitation of an elderly person and two counts of embezzlement during a three-year period, Court Clerk Lori Allen said Friday.
The jury recommended that Myers be given up to two years in jail and fined $35,000, court records show. Myers remains free on $25,000 bond pending her sentencing on June 26 before Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley.
Myers testified at her four-day trial last week that her client Glenora Ackley, who died in 2009, “had told me in the past I could borrow money as long as I paid it back,” which she admitted she had not done. Myers said she didn’t think she took advantage of Mrs. Ackley, who was 90.
She told the jury that on Mrs. Ackley’s instructions she regularly mailed envelopes of cash to Mrs. Ackley’s son, who lives in California and testified he never received packets of cash from Myers.
Myers testified that Mrs. Ackley said, “I want you to send money…don’t send more than $3,000 at a time in an envelope.”
On cross-examination from prosecutor Debra Vincent, Myers admitted that when she got off work, she would go to the casino.
In her closing argument, the prosecutor reminded jurors that the victim’s caregiver testified when she helped the elderly woman send money to her son, it was with a check.
Ackley’s son testified “he did not receive packets of cash in the mail,” Vincent told the jury.
In his closing argument, defense attorney Keith Ward of Tulsa said, “There’s not any evidence Mrs. Myers spent this money. Her lifestyle hasn’t changed one iota.
“There’s no evidence she spent any money at a casino other than her own.
“She sent over $200,000 in cash to Mr. Ackley.
“What this really boils down to – did Mrs. Myers send $200,000 in cash in the mail?” the defense lawyer told the jury.
He said “$150,000 is the amount of loan she says she’ll repay.”
The defense attorney told jurors that the prosecution “wants you to believe she just went rogue and started stealing.
“I wonder how many people go to the casino. My guess is most people don’t report to the I.R.S. when they win.
“She kept a ledger of how much money she put at the casino.
“There’s no evidence she lost money at the casino. There’s no trace of her having excess cash.”
During the trial, jurors were shown Myers’ bank records indicating times and locations when she obtained cash from ATMs at casinos.
In her closing argument, prosecutor Karen Dixon told the jury, “This is a story about betrayal, the exploitation of an elderly woman, who was 90.
Regarding Myers’ claim that she sent large amounts of money to the victim’s son, the prosecutor suggested it was preposterous: “He had $200,000 in cash, really, and he shops at the thrift stores. He couldn’t eat in his own neighborhood because it was too expensive.
“His bank statements don’t show he had any $200,000 in cash. Mr. Ackley is the only party who presented his bank statements when asked.
“The defendant had to come up with an explanation where all this money went. She tried to come up with something that looked like she sent cash.
“She took Mrs. Ackley’s money to the casino. Mrs. Ackley didn’t say she could go gambling on her money.
“Day after day, after day, after day, she was using the money at the casino.
“Mrs. Ackley was a vulnerable adult. She was 90 years old. She was scared. The defendant took advantage of that.
“The bank accounts went to her (the defendant’s) office. Mrs. Ackley didn’t see them.
“There was money left until she stole it. She’s trying to tell you it was a loan. No. She wrote the check, deposited it in her account. She went and spent it on gambling.
“$200,000 in the mail. There’s no evidence. That’s not reasonable.
“Mrs. Myers is a bookkeeper, a certified tax preparer.
“I want you to follow the evidence.
“She embezzled the money, $350,000.
“Nobody told her to write those checks to herself.
“I’m asking you to do what’s fair.
“She took advantage of Mrs. Ackley for three years.
“She deposited those checks. She gambled, gambled and gambled,” the prosecutor told the jury.
During the trial, a certified public accountant, Lyn Wyatt, testified how the wrongdoing was uncovered.
“In November 2009, Mr. Ackley came to our accounting firm office and asked for assistance. His mother had recently passed away. He was concerned that the trust wasn’t being handled appropriately. He understood he was beneficiary of the trust. He asked for help.”
But when the C.P.A. asked Myers for records for the period in which she was the accountant for the trust and also was a trustee, “In January 2010, we received by mail a balance sheet and profit and loss statements for September, October and November of 2009.
“We didn’t receive any tax returns and we didn’t get bank statements,” as requested, the C.P.A. testified.
When the victim’s son obtained records from the bank, “We found many checks had been omitted from the general ledger, checks made out to Myers Accounting and Myers Construction. I was startled,” the C.P.A. testified.
“The majority of the checks to Myers Accounting were not reflected there. I called Mr. Ackley. I said I think we have a problem.
“We told him we were going to ask Mrs. Myers to resign,” which she did immediately as requested, the C.P.A. testified.
“We found $285,000 had been paid to Myers Accounting,” but “Mrs. Ackley had signed an agreement to pay her $2,000 a month to care for her finances for 32 months,” plus additional fees for tax returns, the C.P.A. testified.
“We contacted Mrs. Myers. We asked for an explanation of that.
“Her explanation was Mrs. Ackley didn’t like her granddaughter and wanted to cut her out of the estate.
“Mrs. Ackley told Mrs. Myers to send cash to Steven Ackley on a regular basis through the mail.
“She (the defendant) provided a hand-written letter with a list of amounts and cash she reported she sent to Steve Ackley.
“I was kind of in shock about what she told me,” the C.P.A. testified.
“She told me she didn’t talk to Steven Ackley,” to see if he got the cash she said she mailed him, the C.P.A. told the jury.
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