My Son Drugged Me And Committed Me To A Nursing Home To Steal My $850k House. He Told Everyone I Had Dementia, But I Am An Aerospace Engineer And I Remember Everything. How Do I Take Him Down?
The criminal investigation moved faster than I expected. The district attorney Caroline Chen was aggressive. She hated elder abuse cases.
Within two weeks, she had enough for charges. Marcus was charged with elder abuse, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and filing false medical documents. Dr. Patterson was charged with medical fraud, conspiracy, and accepting bribes.
Vanessa was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, theft by deception, and real estate fraud. Marcus called me from his lawyer’s office.
“Dad, please don’t do this.”
“I’m your son.”
He said.
“Then act like it.”
I replied.
Vanessa said,
“I thought, I didn’t think you’d actually want to live in that big house anymore.”
“I thought you—”
Marcus said.
“You thought you could steal from me and I wouldn’t notice.”
I interrupted.
“It’s not stealing.”
“You’re my father.”
“I helped raise me.”
“Everything you have should go to me eventually anyway.”
He said.
“Eventually, after I’m dead.”
“Not while I’m alive and capable.”
I said.
“Please, Dad.”
“They’re talking about prison.”
“Five years.”
“I’ll lose my CPA license, my job, everything.”
He pleaded.
“You should have thought of that before you drugged me and stole my house.”
I told him.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’ll do anything, just drop the charges.”
Marcus said.
“Can you give me back the six weeks you stole from me?”
“The dignity of being locked in a facility I didn’t need?”
“The violation of being drugged and manipulated by my own son?”
I asked.
“Dad, no.”
He replied.
I hung up.
Reversing the Sale
The civil suit to recover my house took longer. Palmer Properties Management had sold it to another LLC, which had sold it to a third company. All were shell corporations, and all were owned by Vanessa.
Untangling the web took months, but Brennan was good at his job. He traced every transaction, every transfer, and every paper trail. Slowly, the web unraveled.
During this time, I learned things about Vanessa I wished I hadn’t. She’d done this before. Two years ago, she’d convinced an elderly widow to sign over power of attorney, then sold the woman’s house and kept the proceeds.
The woman’s family sued, but Vanessa settled out of court and moved to a different state. That’s how she’d met Marcus at a real estate conference. She’d targeted him, researched him, and found out about me, about my house, and about my finances.
She’d spent six months gaining his trust, planting ideas, and manipulating him into believing that stealing from his own father was helping. Marcus was weak, easily led, and desperate to impress a beautiful woman.
But Vanessa was a predator. The criminal trial was first. I had to testify.
I sat in the witness box and told my story. I told about the dizzy spell, the appointment with Dr. Patterson, and waking up in the nursing home. I spoke of discovering my house was gone.
Marcus’s lawyer tried to paint me as a confused old man who couldn’t remember consenting to his own care. But Dr. Wells’s testimony destroyed that narrative. My cognitive scores were too high.
The timeline was too suspicious. The financial benefit to Marcus and Vanessa was too obvious. Dr. Patterson plead guilty to lesser charges and testified against Marcus and Vanessa.
He described how Vanessa had approached him and offered him cash to sign commitment papers. She promised it was just helping an elderly man get the care he needed. He’d been greedy and stupid and he admitted it.
Marcus took a plea deal. He plead guilty to elder abuse and fraud in exchange for testifying against Vanessa. He got two years in prison and five years probation.
He also had to surrender his CPA license and agreed to never seek power of attorney over any family member again.
Final Words and Rebuilding
Before sentencing, he asked to speak to me. We met in a conference room at the courthouse with Brennan present.
“Dad, I’m so sorry.”
“I know that doesn’t mean anything now, but I am.”
Marcus said.
“Vanessa, she made it sound so reasonable, like I was protecting you, like it was the smart thing to do.”
“I didn’t realize that it was theft.”
“I didn’t think of it that way.”
He added.
“You’re my father.”
“I didn’t think you’d care that my own son betrayed me.”
I said.
He looked down.
“I was going to give you part of the money eventually after Vanessa and I got settled.”
“I wasn’t trying to cut you out completely.”
Marcus said.
“Marcus, you put me in a nursing home.”
“You sold my house.”
“You stole everything I’d built.”
“And you think giving me part of the money eventually makes it better?”
I asked.
