A 56-year-old man was sentenced to three to six years in a state correctional institution Wednesday, March 29, for taking more than $650,000 from an elderly Solebury Township resident over a four-year period.
Robert R. Wootters, of Warrington, was also sentenced to a consecutive sentence of nine years of probation and ordered to pay half a million dollars in restitution to the victim.
Appearing before Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Charissa J. Liller on Wednesday, Wootters entered a no contest plea to charges of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, financial exploitation of an older adult, access device fraud and deceptive business practices.
In a second case, Wootters pleaded guilty to filing false records on a Social Security disability claim and was given six years of probation for that case and ordered to repay $45,759.50 in restitution to the Social Security Administration.
This investigation began on March 18, 2021, when a concerned resident went to the Solebury Township Police Department to report that an 81-year-old man they know was being taken advantage of by Wootters, who had been working on the elderly man’s property as a landscaper.
Days after the report was made, Solebury Township Detective Cpl. Jonathan M. Koretzky and a representative of the Bucks County Area Agency on Aging met with the victim at the victim’s home in Solebury Township.
The victim, who was later found to suffer from major neurocognitive disorder, lived at the home by himself and had no relatives to care for him, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.
He told authorities Wootters had been his caretaker for the past few years, performing general property maintenance and working as a caretaker.
When asked how he pays Wootters, the victim said he writes him checks for the work he performs or whenever Wootters requests money. The victim said he did not keep track of how many checks he had issued Wootters, and he did not know the amount of any of the checks he had issued to Wootters.
The victim said he also pays Wootters to take care of him, but he said he’s the one who goes to the store and cooks and cleans because Wootters is barely around to assist him. The victim added that he had not been to see his doctor in a while and takes his medicine when needed.
The victim expressed confusion about how much he was paying Wootters, and said he felt he was being “taken advantage of by Wootters.”
The investigation included the review of the victim’s financial records, which indicated he issued $633,075 in checks to Wootters from April 22, 2017, to April 1, 2021. Additionally, the financial review showed Wootters used the victim’s debit card to make between $2,000 to $3,000 in monthly debits between December 2019 and July 2021.
The victim’s financial records showed Wootters obtained between $650,000 and $700,000 between April 2017 and July 2021, the investigation concluded.
The victim said Wootters never gave him invoices, written statements, or bills for the services he provided.
As a result of the investigation, the Bucks County Orphans Court appointed the victim a guardian to assist him in his care.
While investigating this case, Detectives with Solebury Township and the District Attorney’s Office learned that Wootters had filed documents with the Social Security Administration to receive disability benefit payments and received $45,759.50 in payments during the time he was working for the victim.
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