A Bucks County jury convicted a 46-year-old man of stealing more than $38,000 from a relative who was disabled and creating fake invoices to hide some of his spending.
Patrick Wayne Alderton, formerly of Whitehall Township, was found guilty Wednesday, Jan. 11, of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, theft by unlawful taking, unlawful use of a computer and other computer crimes, receiving stolen property and misapplication of entrusted property.
Following the verdict, President Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. remanded Alderton to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $250,000 bail, 10 percent, to await sentencing.
According to the Bucks County District Attorney’s office, the investigation began on Oct. 22, 2020, after Bucks County Detectives received information related to the alleged misappropriation of funds by Alderton, the personal representative of a relative’s estate, during a guardianship case being heard in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.
The relative, who lived in nursing facility in Quakertown, had been deemed a totally incapacitated person via decree signed by Common Pleas Judge C. Theodore Fritsch. The relative had inherited more than $88,000 and during an accounting of her finances by her court-appointed guardian, money was found to be missing or unaccounted for.
The investigation found that Alderton spent $38,608.99 of the relative’s estate on expenditures unrelated to her care. Of that money, $29,000 was used for rent on Alderton’s former Whitehall Township residence. The investigation also found that Alderton created invoices to cover up the use of some of the money to make it appear as if it was used for legitimate purposes.
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