Oct. 2—A Joplin woman pleaded guilty and was sentenced Tuesday in Jasper County Circuit Court on a charge of stealing more than $700,000 from an elderly, blind relative.
Tammy Jo Tripp, 52, 1822 N. St. Charles Ave., pleaded guilty to a charge of financial exploitation of an elderly and disabled person. She waived a sentencing assessment report and requested that the court follow the plea bargain.
Judge David Mouton accepted the plea agreement and assessed a 13-year prison sentence.
Tripp was charged with deceitfully obtaining and exercising power of attorney to withdraw money from the investment account of a 69-year-old woman. She took $6,000 or more a month from the account, according to the probable-cause affidavit filed by an investigator of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
According to the affidavit, Tripp also had persuaded Community Bank & Trust to permit her to use a rubber stamp of a signature purported to be that of her disabled relative to cash and endorse checks. She then took withdrawals from the investment account that she deposited in the relative’s bank account. She then withdrew money from the account by using the rubber stamp. She also used the victim’s ATM card to withdraw funds from the woman’s account, according to the investigative information.
The affidavit further states that when family members of the disabled woman began to suspect what was going on, Tripp used the power of attorney to take the woman out of her long-term care facility “and abscond with her to a camper park on Monkey Island, Oklahoma.”
With authorities on her trail earlier this year, Tripp dropped the victim off at another long-term care facility in Jasper County, again using her power of attorney. The affidavit alleges that a staff member of that facility reported overhearing Tripp telling the woman not to mention her money or she and her spouse might have to go to jail.
The Department of Health and Senior Services investigation has documented the amount of the theft at $716,981.55, including a bank money order used by the defendant’s daughter to buy a residence in Joplin for $93,005.55, according to the affidavit.
The case was handled by Assistant Prosecutor Scott Watson.
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