Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- Two people from Chatfield were sentenced Thursday after being convicted of stealing nearly $100,000 from a woman suffering from dementia.

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The case opened in April of 2021 when the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center alerted the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office to numerous financial transactions from the bank account of the victim to an account in the name of defendants. The investigation uncovered a series of transactions that began in January 2018 and ended in December of 2020 that had a combined total of $98,191.15, according to the criminal complaint. 

Amundson complaint. Olmsted County Court
Amundson complaint. Olmsted County Court
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Olmsted County investigators then interviewed the recipients of the funds identified as 68-year-old Bruce Amundson and 67-year-old Deborah Amundson. The charges say the two admitted to depositing the funds with the victim’s permission saying the money was in exchange for the care they were providing the victim. 

Court documents say the Amundsons could not provide proof that an agreement was in place between them and the victim and that the defendants admitted the victim’s dementia became too severe for them to care for her. The victim was then checked into a Rochester care facility. Prosecutors say the victim could not qualify for Medical Assistance due to the payments made to the defendants which resulted in her having $28,578 in unpaid bills. 

Amundson complaint. Olmsted County Court
Amundson complaint. Olmsted County Court
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The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office filed six felony charges of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult against the Amundsons last May. The two entered a plea agreement last December that dismissed five of the six charges. 

The sentence with the agreement that was formally handed down Thursday calls for a two-year Stay of Adjudication and for Amundsons to pay $98,191.15 in restitution. The financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult conviction will then be dropped if the Amundsons follow through on the terms sentence.  

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