Former Florida attorney who stole millions from 108-year-old will serve jail time, authorities said
Authorities said a Florida attorney who stole millions of dollars from a 108-year-old woman is going to prison.
Matthew Roby, a Winter Park lawyer who represented the now-deceased Helen Kuhn, will now spend five years in prison after taking a plea deal this week, police said.
Investigators said he gained power of attorney over Kuhn through fraudulent means and drained $3 million from her accounts.
“Roby agreed to a plea deal today that will land him in prison for 5 years for Exploitation of an Elderly Person and Grand Theft of more than $100,000,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.
Kuhn, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 108, caught onto the scheme years ago and grew frustrated by the fraud, according to the report.
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Roby was arrested in 2021 and was subsequently disbarred and can no longer practice law in Florida.
“Helen taught school for 35 years, flew planes until the age of 93 and drove until the age of 101,” Orange County officials said.
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Karen Murillo, an advocacy manager for AARP Florida, said instances of exploitation by attorneys have risen in recent years.
“Unfortunately, this is not the first case of exploitation of an attorney,” Murillo said, per the report. “I’ll tell you that exploitation occurs based off the proximity to an older or vulnerable adult.”
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“Sadly, exploitation is on the rise,” she added. “What we are seeing is that it has increased nationally, there’s an average loss for victims of exploitation of about $120,000 annually.”
Murillo said on average one in ten Americans is a victim of “some sort of elder abuse,” per the report.
Economic Crimes Detective Chris Williams said deputies were able to recover more than $2.4 million that was stolen from Kuhn.
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