Prosecutor Credits Ohio Credit Union & Police for Catching Elderly Fraud Scheme

An Ohio credit union and police prevented a 79-year-old woman from potentially losing more than $1 million after arresting a senior case employee.

Brenda Cowden, 55, was indicted last week on multiple felony charges of defrauding an elderly victim, according to Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers in Cincinnati.

Cowden was an employee of a senior service provider responsible for placing seniors into care facilities. The unidentified victim, who lived alone with no family or close friends, held multiple accounts at the $5.1 billion General Electric Credit Union in Cincinnati and PNC bank.

Cowden was assigned as a case worker for the victim who could no longer safely live at her home and allegedly used her position to befriend the victim with a goal of obtaining access to her money, according to the prosecutor.

In February, Cowden allegedly convinced the victim to sign a Power of Attorney (POA) document giving Cowden control over the victim’s finances as well as the right to be paid a fee for her services. Although no witnesses were present for the POA signing, witness signatures were allegedly fraudulently added to the POA after the fact, the prosecutor said. Within days, Cowden allegedly accessed the victim’s accounts and modified them to name herself as the beneficiary.

Over the next several months, Cowden moved large sums of money from the victim’s PNC account to the victim’s GE Credit Union accounts, which gave Cowden full access to all money owned by the victim in violation of the scope of the POA, the prosecutor alleged.

Cowen obtained $13,600 from the victim’s account and had control of more than $1 million before investigators at GE Credit Union froze the accounts and contacted the Sharonville Police Department, which conducted a criminal investigation.

“Were it not for the vigilance of investigators at GE Credit Union and the outstanding work of Sharonville Police Department, this senior could have been left penniless,” Powers said.

Cowden was indicted on 10 felony counts, which included theft from a person in a protected class, telecommunications fraud, forgery, unauthorized use of property and aggravated identity theft of a person in a protected class. If she is convicted on all charges, Cowden could face a maximum prison sentence of 61 years.

In a prepared statement, GE Credit Union said: “GE Credit Union is committed to protecting our senior members, and this case exemplifies that commitment. We wish to thank both the Sharonville Police Department and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Officer for their outstanding work investigating and indicting this matter to ensure the culprit faces justice for what she did.”