Simi Valley man arrested on suspicion of elderly financial abuse
By Zeke Barlow
July 25, 2009
A Simi Valley man was arrested Friday on suspicion of elderly financial abuse after police said he stole more than $100,000 from his mother who suffers from dementia.
Thomas Pinneri, 54, had taken out a reverse mortgage on his mother’s home and cashed her Social Security and pension checks for more than a year, according to Simi Valley Police Department Lt. Greg Riegert.
Pinneri has been living in Dorothea Pinneri’s home since she moved to a long-term care facility about 18 months ago, Riegert said.
Pinneri used his 77-year-old mother’s money to fund an expensive drug habit and gambling trips to Las Vegas, Riegert said.
More than once, Pinneri pushed his mother in her wheelchair from her long-term care facility to a Chase bank across the street where he cashed checks for large sums of money, Riegert said. One was for more than $45,000.
Bank officials became suspicious after a series of large checks were cashed with a full signature of Dorothea Pinneri, even though the woman was unable to fully write her own name, Riegert said.
Police began investigating the case and were called to the bank on Friday when Pinneri had wheeled in his mother again. He was arrested at the bank.
Riegert said the son did not have power of attorney for his mother and noted there might be more charges added as investigators pore over stacks of financial records.
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