The Georgia Attorney General's Office says a Hart County man has pleaded guilty to one felony count of Exploitation of an Elder Person for embezzling finances from his mother's health care for personal use.
Attorney Chris Carr's press release Tuesday says Lawrence Montgomery, Junior, placed his mother, 77-year-old Ruth Montgomery, under the care of Hartwell Health & Rehabilitation, becoming her personal representative after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019.
Officials claim Montgomery was then obligated to use his mother’s monthly social security checks to pay for her room and board at the facility. Instead, over the course of five months, from October 2019 to February 2020, Montgomery gained sole access to her bank account and diverted his mother’s funds to himself, putting the elderly woman at risk of being discharged from the facility.
Georgia Superior Court Judge Jeffery Malcom accepted Montgomery's plea on April 2, 2024, and sentenced him to 10 years of probation. The Court also ordered Montgomery to pay restitution to his mother and barred the defendant from serving as a guardian or power of attorney for another person throughout the length of his sentence.
