Woman accused of stealing mom’s Social Security to feed gambling habit
North Las Vegas police have arrested a woman accused of stealing her 73-year-old mother’s retirement money to gamble.
In January, a warrant was issued for Tiffany Dolan’s arrest on a charge of exploiting an older or vulnerable person for more than $5,000, and she was arrested Sept. 8, court records show.
According to her arrest report, the 43-year-old told police that she had been caring for her mother since she was diagnosed with dementia in July 2019. She told police that she oversees the pair’s finances, running her own checking account and a joint checking account she holds with her mother.
Dolan had previously been arrested on elder abuse and neglect charges last summer after her mother went missing and was found with burns from lying on hot pavement. During that investigation, police found that Dolan was in charge of her mother’s finances and “completed a grand jury subpoena to Bank of America requesting all accounts information” from July 1, 2018, to Aug. 1, 2019, the report said.
She pleaded guilty to the elder abuse and neglect charges on Aug. 8, 2019, and was sentenced to up to 34 months in jail, followed by five years of probation, court records show. Dolan was released on probation on Feb. 11 on the condition that she see her mother only during supervised visits at the senior facility where she was living. She has a hearing regarding revocation of her probation on Sept. 23, court records show.
When reviewing Dolan’s bank statements, police found multiple $100, $200 and $300 withdrawals, adding up to about $16,000 from July 2018 to August 2019, the report said. Officers interviewed Dolan on Sept. 12, 2019, and she said she used the $3,000 her mother got each month from Social Security and a pension to pay for the family’s bills, groceries, car and credit card, according to the report.
“As (officers) continued to show Tiffany all the $200 and $300 transactions made over and over, she stated she knew and wasn’t arguing about them,” the report said. “She also agreed that she had mismanaged her mother’s money.”
Dolan told police that she had a gambling problem and would often take out hundreds or thousands of dollars at local casinos.
She is being held at the Clark County Detention Center and is expected in court on Nov. 10.
Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexisdford on Twitter.
