Prosecutors say a Sewickley woman tricked her elderly parents into signing over control of their home and savings, then moved into their house and wrote herself checks for everything from credit card bills to a country club membership.

Kimberly Sue Gerard

In all, Kimberly Sue Gerard, 55, is accused of stealing or attempting to steal $1 million in cash and property from Wilhelm Ostern, 84, a onetime top executive with Bayer Corp., and his wife, Olga, 87.

Her husband, Christopher K. Gerard, 58, faces a single count of conspiracy and is still being sought.

The Allegheny County district attorney's office said Mrs. Gerard coerced Mrs. Ostern into signing a power of attorney document while the elderly woman was hospitalized with a broken hip on July 3, 2007. Mr. Ostern, who has since been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, was already suffering dementia at the time he signed a power of attorney.

"There aren't words to describe how I feel," Mrs. Ostern told detectives. "I am shocked, humiliated, disgraced, betrayed and very hurt."

Christopher K. Gerard

She said Mrs. Gerard has "destroyed my old age, my husband and my family."

The legal documents gave the Gerards wide-ranging powers to handle personal and financial affairs for the Osterns, including the ability to add themselves to the couple's bank accounts.

Many of the checks written by Mrs. Gerardwere stopped before they could be processed when another family member became suspicious and intervened with Mellon Bank, prosecutors said.

Mrs. Ostern told detectives that she thought she was signing documents that would temporarily allow Mrs. Gerard to pay the Osterns' bills while she was hospitalized.

In all, Kimberly Gerard is accused of writing $694,727 in checks -- none of them to cover her parents' bills. The largest was a $305,293 draft from the Ostern's savings to pay off the mortgage on the Gerard home on Turkey Foot Road in Sewickley. That check was blocked, as were checks for $98,000 and $99,000, both written out to cash.

The house she persuaded them to sign over to her is assessed at $429,000.

Among the checks that cleared were more than $60,000 written out for credit card bills, as well as a $4,389 check to cover their membership at the Allegheny Country Club.

Detectives took Mrs. Gerard into custody last night on 18 criminal counts of theft, three counts of criminal attempt, four counts of misdemeanor theft, and one count each of criminal conspiracy and misapplication of entrusted property.

Officials say it is one of the most egregious cases of fraud against the elderly they have seen in their year-long push to prosecute what they see as a growing crime problem as the region's population ages.

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said the case is one of several involving elderly victims that are being investigated or prosecuted by his office. Many of them involve abuses of powers of attorney.

"Sometimes the people who carry out these crimes are family members or friends, while in other cases they may be individuals who simply use their position as a fiduciary in order to take control of their victims' assets," Mr. Zappala said.

"Cases like this will continue to be one of our primary focuses -- especially when the victims, like the Osterns in this case, are unable to better protect themselves from being victimized because of advanced age or infirmity," he said.

Prosecutors last summer froze the assets of the Osterns after another child, Lee Murphy, phoned from Chicago to say he believed someone was stealing from their savings account.

Court papers quote from an e-mail between Mr. Gerard and an attorney who arranged for the couple to obtain power of attorney from the Osterns. In the e-mail, Mr. Gerard writes: "My wife has convinced Wilhelm and Olga that for us to move from our house to theirs to take care of them, it would require us receiving the house and property in exchange for our care-giving services until they both pass."

In fact, according to the affidavit, Mrs. Ostern said the couple received no care from the Gerards and that Mrs. Gerard "slept in until 2 p.m. each day" and that conditions in the home deteriorated.