William Nash, 49, Ashfield, Massachusetts, has been arrested and charged with stealing more than $350,000 from an elderly aunt who gave him power of attorney because she trusted him as a relative to care for her.
The defendant was arrested by local authorities in Massachusetts pursuant to an arrest warrant prepared by Inspectors from the Statewide Prosecution Bureau of the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office.
Nash is charged in Connecticut with one count each of Larceny in the First Degree and Larceny in the Second degree, felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $15,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, respectively.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Nash‘s 89-year old aunt turned to her nephew after she recognized that she needed help with her finances, paying her bills, and selling her Lisbon, Connecticut, home, which she no longer felt safe residing in alone. Nash offered to assist her and his aunt granted him her power of attorney, the warrant states.
Subsequent to receiving the power of attorney, Nash withdrew $353,541.27 from his aunt’s bank accounts and attempted to utilize the medical system to further incapacitate her, according to the warrant. Further, the warrant states, despite admitting having possession of his aunt’s personal effects, Nash has ignored persistent requests to return the items such as her birth certificate, marriage certificate, husband’s death certificate, deed to her burial plot, photos, and school yearbook.
Nash appeared today in the Norwich Superior Court, G.A. No. 21, where bond was set at $75,000 and the case continued until July 25, 2014.
The case will be prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau of the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office in Rocky Hill.