Neighbor: Woman Who Stole Sick Mom's Money Imprisoned Her In Bedroom
JEANNETTE (KDKA) -- Investigators say Teri Lyn Padgett stole money from her dementia patient mother and used the cash for online psychics.
None of the psychics were able to tell her that what she was allegedly doing to her mother's money was noticed by neighbors and reported to authorities.
According to next-door neighbor Helen Arnett, what 57-year-old Padgett allegedly did to her own mother is heart breaking.
"She is the sweetest lady you'll ever want to meet. And she was being mistreated," she said.
Mrs. Arnett says she knows all about the emotional and verbal abuse on Carol Morales, a woman in the throws of dementia, who was allegedly kept as a prisoner in her own home in Jeannette.
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"Can you imagine being in one room? Just her bedroom and not allowed to to come out that room," she said.
Arnett says she contacted authorities with concerns, but what finally caught up with Padgett was what she was allegedly doing with her mother's money.
County officials got word that Morales' accounts were being drained by her daughter, more than $58,000 of the money heading to Telcash, the parent company of California Psychics.
"All she would have had to do was ask her mother, even though her mental capacity was diminished, she still would have given Teri whatever she wanted," Arnett said.
Investigators arrested Padgett and charged her with theft. She's now in the Westmoreland County Jail held on $20,000 bond. Her mother is now in a dementia treatment facility receiving proper support.
