Friday, May 01, 2009

Elder abuse and embezzlement charges

FLINT, Michigan - According to ABC News, Anthony V. Cunturso, 47, has been arrested and charged with embezzlement and neglect of his 73-year-old mother. The woman, who is blind in one eye, partially deaf and has diabetes, was found on April 23 on a urine-soaked couch and wrapped in a tattered blanket crawling with roaches and maggots. She was found by sheriff's deputies following a tip from an MTA bus driver. Anthony Cunturso, who was also her caretaker, charged the woman mother $450 a month to live in an apartment with no heat or running water, according to police. According to the Flint Journal, Adult Protective Services workers apparently had gotten anonymous tips about the woman's living conditions in January and October of last year but got no answer when they knocked on the door to check. She also did not answer the door when his investigators went to house on two occasions earlier this month.
It wasn't until the third visit last week, when investigators found the back door open, that they were able to go inside.

The woman has been taken from the house and is living with her sister pending placement in an adult foster care home. Cunturso will appear in court on May 7. He faces up to five years in prison on the embezzlement charge; the abuse charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.