Woman's family sentenced for cleaning out the house
PORTLAND, Ore. – They took her car, her china, even her walker. Now two local women will spend a year in prison for taking or selling nearly everything their own elderly relative had.
We brought you the story of 83-year-old Evelyn Roth in August 2009, who tried to return home after recovering from a serious illness in the hospital and discovered her home had been sold and everything in it was gone.
On Monday we reported live from the Multnomah County Courthouse, where the two women granted power-of-attorney for Roth while she was sick were sentenced.
While the two women reportedly told police they believed Roth was terminally ill and about to die, they agreed in court to serve a year and a day in prison, plus five years of probation. Restitution is still being discussed.
Roth now says her hope and dignity have been restored – now that her only two living relatives, her cousin Virginia Kuehn and her niece Kathleen Jingling, will spend time in prison for scamming her.
She has the support of her close family friends, including James Jinns who is legally representing her. They were the ones who discovered her checking account and annuities were cleaned out last year, along with her antiques, furniture, car, house, wedding photos and even her personal ID.
"They took her glasses and she couldn't see," said Jinns. "They took her cell phone and she didn't have any way to call anybody."
Meanwhile, Roth is slowly getting her belongings back.
"Everything was dirty and dusty and we don't know where it was," she said from the courtroom Monday.
And she's unapologetic. "They got to be taught a lesson," Roth said. "You don't go ahead and steal from people that have nothing."
