Columbia woman accused of stealing from elderly couple and their disabled daughter

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia woman stole tens of thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of an elderly couple and their disabled daughter, a Boone County Sheriff's Office detective wrote in a statement used to justify a felony charge against her.

Ana Cristina Lopez-Clark, 54, was arrested and booked into the Boone County Jail on Tuesday on a charge of financial exploitation of an elderly or disabled person. She was released on a $5,000 bond.

Investigators allege Lopez-Clark stole tens of thousands of dollars between 2018 and this year from the couple's bank account and their mentally disabled daughter's account by sending the money to PayPal addresses that she operated. One of the victims is 90 and the other is 91, according to the probable cause statement.

The suspicious transactions totaled nearly $65,000 on one account, the detective wrote.

One of the victims became suspicious of Lopez-Clark, who was given power of attorney in 2013, after a dispute over chestnuts grown on the couple's property, the statement says. Investigators also believe Lopez-Clark forged documents to make the couple think she set up a trust account for their daughter.

Lopez-Clark had her initial arraignment Wednesday afternoon, according to online court records. She did not have a lawyer listed in online court records.