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MURRAY -- A man was charged Thursday with defrauding an elderly woman of more than $115,000.
Peter Nessem Morcos, 32, convinced an 88-year-old woman to give him power of attorney over her finances, with the woman as an agent, court documents state. The woman opened up a bank account at a Wells Fargo branch in Salt Lake County and gave Morcos a debit card linked to the account.
Between April 1 and Sept. 16, 2010, Morcos fraudulently cashed checks on the woman's account totaling more than $105,000, prosecutors say. He also used the debit card linked to the woman's account without her permission for transactions totaling more than $9,000.
Morcos withdrew thousands of dollars from the woman's account on three separate occasions, documents state. He told police that those withdrawals were loans from the woman, but she denied that claim.
Prosecutors said Morcos opened three credit accounts that accrued a total of nearly $14,000 in unpaid balances in the woman's name without her knowledge.
Morcos told police he used the debit card linked to the woman's account as payment for helping the woman with her finances and setting up automatic bill pay for her. The woman said she thought Morcos would use his power of attorney only in an emergency situation.
Morcos is charged with:
- Exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony
- 4 counts of unlawful use of a transaction card, second-degree felonies
- 5 counts of forgery, third-degree felonies
Email:averzello@ksl.com
