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SOUTH JORDAN — A Woods Cross woman is facing criminal charges accusing her of taking and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of her father's retirement money on items such as airfare, vacations and cosmetic surgery.
Athena Crane Monson, 54, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with nine counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult and communications fraud, all second-degree felonies.
The investigation began in January when Adult Protective Services reported to South Jordan police that a man with dementia was being defrauded by his adult daughter, according to charging documents. Investigators say Monson had obtained power of attorney for her father, received a lump sum payment after putting a reverse mortgage on her father's home and listed his home for sale but later took it off the market.
From January 2020 through December 2022, large sums of money were taken from the father's bank account and spent on items such as trips to Disneyland and Las Vegas, and on cosmetic surgery, according to the charges.
"Venmo, Delta Airlines and Vincent Surgical Arts, all affiliated with Monson, have the most major transactions. (Adult Protective Services) audited (the father's) account on April 12 and found over $235,517.58 in net questionable bank disbursements and $10,232.13 in net questionable credit card charges, totaling $245,749.71. The bulk of charges were made over the phone, and each receipt contained Monson's name and phone number, indicating she performed the transaction," charging documents state.
Prosecutors listed in the charging documents examples of extravagant spending, such as:
- From April 22, 2021, to May 21, 2021, 71 charges totaling nearly $8,300 were made.
- From June 22, 2021, to July 20, 2021, approximately 139 charges totaling $22,259.03 were made.
- From July 27, 2021, through Aug. 20, 2021, approximately 236 charges totaling $32,460.61 were made, including over $13,000 in cosmetic surgery and more than $1,000 in dental fees.
- Between Sept. 21, 2021, and Nov. 19, 2021, with the exception of five days not counted, nearly 500 charges were made totaling about $108,000.
When the father was asked about the Delta Air Lines purchases, he said he had not flown anywhere. And when asked about Venmo he stated he didn't know what that was, according to the charges.
