Gendimenico, 48, pleaded guilty to a theft scheme Monday. He could face 15 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 9, but he is likely to get less because of state sentencing guidelines. How much he took remains unclear and is expected to be determined at a hearing before sentencing.
Prosecutors say he stole at least $180,000 from the couple, who had no children and lived modestly on fixed incomes in the Glenmont area. As the husband's health deteriorated, Gendimenico persuaded the wife to grant him power of attorney and received more than 350 checks from the couple's bank accounts, according to prosecutors. By the time her husband died, she could no longer afford to bury him.
"He picked her clean," said Robert McCarthy, a lawyer appointed by the court to manage the widow's finances.
Montgomery County is seeing more cases like this. In early March, Roger Greenberg, 68, was convicted of swindling more than $100,000 from an 84-year-old woman whom he persuaded to marry him in a ceremony in the front seat of his car.
"People are figuring out we've got a bunch of rich old people here," said McCarthy, who also is involved in the Greenberg case.
"I'm seeing too many of these cases," Montgomery District Court Judge Gary Crawford said last year at an early hearing in the Gendimenico investigation.
"It's a huge problem," said Peggy Odick, an attorney for the county. "We're seeing tons of them, but he's actually wiped her out. There's nothing left." SOURCE: Washington Post
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