Springfield woman waives hearing in financial exploitation case
Aug. 14—MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — A 50-year-old Springfield woman has been ordered bound over for trial on charges that she stole $2,360 from an elderly man in a long-term care facility in Aurora.
Angela D. Ormsby-Vigneaux waived a preliminary hearing Monday in Lawrence County Circuit Court on counts of financial exploitation of an elderly person and fraudulent use of a credit device. Judge Don Trotter set her initial appearance in a trial division of the court on Oct. 10.
The charges were brought against Ormsby-Vigneaux in April following an investigation by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
A probable-cause affidavit filed with the charges alleges that she used a debit card belonging to a resident of the Hudson House in Aurora to make 20 unauthorized withdrawals from his bank account between Nov. 21 and Nov. 25. At the time, the alleged victim had been hospitalized for 11 days.
A Hudson House staff member told the state investigator that she had seen the defendant leaving the victim's room with his computer and wallet, which she claimed to be taking to him at the hospital. The defendant subsequently admitted to the investigator that she'd used the victim's debit card to make the withdrawals totaling $2,360, according to the affidavit.
Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.
