Fleeced by caregiver, man speaks

Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 7, 2006 at midnight

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Robert Morlan was rolled into an Adams County courtroom in a wheelchair Oct. 17 and saw the woman he once considered a daughter.

It was the first time since April 18, 2005, that Morlan, 86, had seen Debora Jo Smith. It was the probably the last time.

Morlan watched Smith as she was led away in handcuffs after being sentenced to six years in prison after she pleaded guilty to felony theft. She stole about $60,000 in cash, jewelry and family heirlooms from his condo and ran up about $125,000 in credit card purchases that was signed off to Morlan after she filled out credit applications in his name using his Social Security number.

As part of her plea deal, the district attorney dismissed one count of theft against an at-risk victim.

Smith apologized to Morlan, saying she was now a born-again Christian.

Her apology rang hollow to Morlan, who said he has moved on with his life.

Chalk up the humiliating experience as another one of life's lessons, he said. Besides, Morlan couldn't make out her apology because he's hard of hearing.

"I knew why she did it to me," Morlan said from the secure confines of his quaint apartment at the Sunrise Senior Living homes. "Because she's a damn crook."

Morlan, who has congestive heart failure, and his family said his experience should serve as a wake-up call to other elderly people who are alone, frail, ill and need care.

"Why would a 38-year-old woman agree to baby-sit an 85-year-old man?" asked Chris Morlan, the victim's daughter-in-law, recently.

Chris Morlan said family members let their guard down because allowing Smith to live with her father-in-law seemed like an ideal answer to the question of how to take care of him in a cost-effective manner.

"If the solution is easy, it might not be best," she said.

For three years, Smith took care of Robert Morlan in his Westminster condo.

Morlan provided Smith with a basement bedroom after she told him a story about how she was mistreated by her husband and that she was suffering from cancer.

That alone should have triggered a red flag, Chris Morlan said, because in the three years she cared for Robert Morlan, they never saw her husband.

Morlan said he was once proud of the relationship he had with Smith, who cooked, shopped and cleaned for him.

"You can't believe how good she was to me," he said.

Then on April 15, 2005, the family learned Smith had told Morlan his tax accountant had called and needed $18,000 to send to the government, his daughter-in-law said. Morlan, trusting Smith, transferred the amount from his trust account to his personal account. Smith then transferred the money to her own personal account.

On April 19, 2005, the two were planning to leave for a trip to California. They made all the reservations, placed their labrador and beagle in a kennel, and packed their suitcases.

That morning, Smith told Morlan that she was going out for a medical checkup and an appointment with her physical therapist and would be back in the early afternoon to finish packing Morlan's suitcase.

She had already put her belongings in a 2003 Ford - a car Morlan had purchased, but was in her name.

"Because she had ownership of the vehicle, it couldn't be classified as stolen," Morlan's daughter-in-law said.

That was the last time Robert Morlan saw Smith until her sentencing.

When she didn't return as promised that day, Robert Morlan phoned his son, Scott, and Westminster police to say that Smith was missing. The police said they couldn't file a missing-persons report until Smith was gone for at least 24 hours. He called police again the next day, saying she still had not returned.

Morlan's family did an inventory of the house and realized that he had been victimized. The safe with his gold coins, watches and rings had been emptied. They reviewed financial statements that Robert Morlan never saw. In those statements were an assortment of unauthorized transactions made by Smith, the family said.

"He never read his mail," Morlan's daughter-in-law said.

Later, detectives discovered Smith had previous convictions for theft.

"They file a missing-persons report, and we find out she's been fleecing people for 20 years," Chris Morlan said.

According to court documents, Robert Morlan's car was found in October 2005 at the airport in Albuquerque.

After reviewing the case, prosecutors filed a count of theft against an at-risk adult against Smith in November. Two days before Christmas, she was apprehended in Las Vegas, working at a homeless shelter.

Smith fought extradition to Colorado and went through an extensive extradition process before she was returned to the state to face charges.

Michael Goodbee, Adams County's assistant district attorney, said Morlan's case also posed legal problems for his office.

Morlan's physician told Goodbee that Morlan wouldn't be able to testify because of his poor health. Simply taking a deposition from him might not have been enough because Smith would not have been able to confront her accuser, a Sixth Amendment right backed by a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The longer the the extradition process dragged on, Goodbee feared, the greater the likelihood his case could fall apart.

Ultimately, however, Smith was returned to Colorado in April and made her first court appearance, and on Aug. 24, she pleaded guilty to theft as part of a plea arrangement.

"I let her get away with it because I was extremely comfortable in the situation I was in," said Morlan, a former Army Air Corps pilot who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. "Whenever I needed an escort, I took her with me."

Tips on protection

District attorneys in Colorado have created the Communities Against Senior Exploitation Partnership to help the elderly avoid becoming victims of fraud. Here are some of the steps to help prevent identity theft, and mail and Internet fraud:

• Women should carry a close-fitting pouch instead of a purse and men should carry a wallet in the front pocket.

• Reduce the items you carry in public such as a Social Security card, extra credit cards and checkbooks.

• Shred into small pieces any mail or documents that contain Social Security, bank account and credit card numbers.

• Place mail with bills to be paid at the post office and request that new boxes of checks be held at the bank or credit union rather than have them delivered.

• Stop participating in lottery, contest or sweepstakes offers.

• Winners of any contest or sweepstakes never should have to pay fees or other costs before receiving the winning prizes, because it is illegal.

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