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PROVO -- A Provo man is charged with exploiting an elderly woman after police say he struck up a relationship with her to get to her money. From there he went and bought BYU season football tickets.
Police say the suspect, Donald Savage, met the woman about a year ago at an LDS singles dance. He's 56 years old and she's in her 70s.
"He struck up a friendship with her. Then I think it became a classic case of where he groomed her, played to her emotions of being single. She's lonely," says BYU police Lt. Arnold Lemmon.
And he may be a familiar face to many around Utah Valley. Savage is listed as being a torchbearer for the 2002 Olympics and has been a familiar face in both political and educational circles around the community.
It's reported he has raised money for charitable organizations such as the Boy Scouts and was a volunteer for Olympic Aid, a program that brings sports to children in refugee camps.
She told police Savage had said he was between jobs and needed some help to get back on his feet. So, she tried to help him by letting him charge a few things on her card.
At first, police say the charges were small, for items such as groceries to repairs to his car. But then the charges started adding up.
"Food, lodging, car repairs, he even bought an iPhone," says Lemmon.
Police say the woman would question him about what he was buying and tell him to stop buying things with her card, but he kept coming up with excuses of why he needed to keep using it. The credit card bill totaled more than $20,000 in unauthorized purchases before the police got involved.
Eventually, charges for $3,600 appeared on her statement for BYU football tickets and a membership to the Cougar Club.
"One game he would buy a large block of tickets, another game, another large block of tickets. And of course he bought a Cougar Club membership," says Lemmon.
That's when the woman got the courage to call the authorities.
BYU police got involved in the incident because she called the BYU ticket office saying there were charges for a lot football tickets on her credit card and she hadn't authorized any of them.
Savage faces a second degree felony charge of exploitation of a disabled or elder adult with intent to profit.
"There were multiple transactions, so we originally investigated it as a credit card transaction crimes, which is multiple felonies," Lemmon said. "We submitted the case to the county attorneys and they felt it was more appropriate for elderly abuse."
Savage was booked into jail Monday morning and then released in advance of a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday.
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Story compiled with contributions from Randall Jeppesen and Sam Penrod.
