Donna Graves, Elderly Embezzlement, North Carolina 2020

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In a shocking case of exploitation, a Charlotte woman and her co-conspirator have been sentenced to prison for stealing $300,000 from an elderly, dementia-afflicted victim.

Donna Graves, 58, and Gerald Maxwell Harrison, 54, of Mint Hill, N.C., were handed down prison sentences by U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. for their involvement in a $300,000 embezzlement scheme. Graves was sentenced to 97 months in prison and two years of supervised release, while Harrison received three years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

The scheme, which spanned from January 2015 through September 2019, involved Graves and her co-conspirators exploiting the victim’s vulnerabilities and defrauding her through a web of forged documents, lies, and deceptions. The co-conspirators isolated the victim from her friends and family, induced the victim to give them power and control over her personal affairs, and fabricated a power of attorney purporting to give Graves and her co-conspirator control over the victim’s financial affairs.

According to court records and trial testimony, Graves, Harrison, and their third co-conspirator, Elizabeth Robin Williams, engaged in numerous illegal and unauthorized financial transactions that substantially depleted the victim’s money and property. They emptied the victim’s bank accounts, used the money to pay for personal expenses, maxed out at least one credit card in the victim’s name, and even pawned the victim’s jewelry.

The co-conspirators also stole the victim’s federal benefits and unlawfully used the victim’s money to set up other businesses in her name, including a business selling handbags online and a business selling weight loss-related services. As a result of the fraudulent scheme, the co-conspirators defrauded the victim out of $300,000.

Graves and Harrison were ordered to pay $298,407.85 as restitution, jointly and severally. Williams, who previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, interstate transportation of stolen property, and money laundering conspiracy, is currently awaiting sentencing.

The case was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney William T. Stetzer, who is joined in making today’s announcement by Robert R. Wells, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI in North Carolina, Tommy D. Coke, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Chief Joseph Hatley of the Mint Hill Police Department.

Related Federal Cases