Utah businesswoman sent to prison for exploiting elderly and vulnerable clients

Collin Leonard, KSL.com

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — A Murray female has been sentenced to situation aft she financially exploited 76 aged and different susceptible clients who trusted her arsenic a fiduciary to return attraction of their finances, according to tribunal documents.

Janine Marie McCauley, 49, was charged successful 3rd District Court pinch 10 counts of unlawful dealing of spot by a fiduciary and engaging successful a shape of unlawful activity, second-degree felonies.

As portion of an statement signed successful March, she pleaded blameworthy to 5 counts of unlawful dealing of spot by a fiduciary and to engaging successful a shape of unlawful activity. The different 5 counts were dropped successful speech for her plea.

For her crimes, which “constituted a shape of unlawful activity that occurred complete a play from March 2019 to April 2022, McCauley was sentenced to six position of 1 to 15 years successful prison. The fiduciary counts were ordered to tally concurrent, but nan unlawful shape complaint was ordered to tally consecutive to nan different terms. That intends she was ordered to walk astatine slightest 2 years and up to 30 years successful prison. She was besides ordered to salary $566,669 successful restitution.

McCauley had been nan proprietor and usability of Simplified Business Solutions and was responsible for managing susceptible clients’ Social Security, COVID-19 stimulus checks, and different income to “pay rent, utilities, bills and individual necessities,” according to nan indictment.

She “commingled costs and utilized nan money for herself aliases personification different than nan susceptible individuals,” tribunal documents say, allowing her clients to autumn heavy successful indebtedness and, successful astatine slightest 1 case, beryllium evicted from their assisted surviving facility.

According to McCauley’s blameworthy plea, 1 erstwhile customer was “unable to salary her bills aliases bargain Christmas gifts for grandchildren,” and had to “borrow money from her girl for individual essentials,” aft her income was fraudulently managed.

A man that is “cognitively incapable to comprehend nan totality of nan situation” was “months down connected rent astatine his assisted surviving facility,” and “his sister continues to person postulation notices” aft nan man was forced to move, nan blameworthy plea states.

Another female who was a customer of McCauley died successful November 2021 and, owed to McCauley’s actions, “remained down connected her bills astatine nan clip of her death, and this financial business reportedly added further accent to (the woman) correct earlier her death.”

Other clients listed successful nan charging documents were near successful important debt, a load that had to beryllium managed and paid by family members.

The Medicaid fraud and diligent maltreatment section of nan Utah Attorney General’s Office helped analyse and prosecute nan case.

A assistance of complete $3.5 cardinal from nan U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was awarded to nan section this fiscal year, representing astir 75% of its funding. The remainder comes from nan authorities of Utah, according to a property merchandise issued Thursday.