A North Side woman is accused of stealing more than $220,000 from a man with dementia after meeting him online, according to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.
Susan Elizabeth Larkin, 80, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property and access device fraud.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 8.
Her attorney, Phil DiLucente, said on Wednesday that his client denies any wrongdoing, and that she was in a committed relationship with the alleged victim.
“We are digesting the criminal complaint. We are hopeful we will be able to bring clarity to these allegations,” he said. “She loves him very, very much.”
According to the complaint, the victim’s son spoke with detectives from the DA’s office in March. The son told investigators that his father, who is 75, moved back to Pennsylvania from Alaska in December 2023. At the time, the son told detectives that his father’s friends and neighbors in Alaska had concerns that he had become forgetful.
On the day the son picked up his father at the airport, his dad told him that Larkin would be meeting them there, as well, and that the two had met online.
After a few days residing with his son, the alleged victim went to stay with Larkin, the complaint said. At that point, the man was still handling his own finances.
However, the complaint continued, Larkin began to isolate him from his family, including getting him a new cellphone and number, which she did not provide to his three children.
The alleged victim’s daughter found Larkin’s address online and went to see her father, but Larkin would not allow her inside, the complaint said.
She then called her brother, who met her at Larkin’s house. They eventually got inside, and the son told detectives his father’s memory had gotten much worse, and they believed he had dementia.
Still, the alleged victim continued to live with Larkin, the complaint said, who had taken over his medical care, and refused to share information with his children.
After a dispute at a family picnic on July 4, the alleged victim decided to move in with his son. The next day, the children took the man for a medical appointment and learned that Larkin had obtained power of attorney.
According to the complaint, on July 7, Larkin used that power of attorney to withdraw $220,000 from the victim’s PNC bank account through a cashier’s check.
However, detectives said, the power of attorney is not valid. The alleged victim was declared incapacitated by his doctor in July 2024, and Larkin didn’t obtain power of attorney until more than a month later. Therefore, the complaint continued, the victim would not have been able to execute any legal documents at that time.