Daughter ripped off dad and landed in jail

This article from Virginia details an unfortunately common scenario of a child taking financial advantage of a parent.  As is typical in these cases, the daughter and her husband isolated the 84 year old man  and had him sign over his assets.  The steps they took to keep him away from from the rest of the family were extreme:

Living with Emma and her husband for nearly two years, Moncie was kept secluded in their home and cut off from contact with other family members and long-time friends. The couple had disabled his vehicles, prevented his use of the telephone and used scare tactics to keep him from leaving the house, according to the court’s findings. Suspecting his food was being laced with drugs, Moncie lost 45 pounds. The ordeal ended when Moncie pried open a door and escaped into the cold night on Jan. 10, 2008. “He just got desperate enough to leave,” said Pulley. Moncie walked for miles before getting help at a convenience store.

The father sued the daughter to recover his assets.  The trial did not go well for her and the judge ordered her jailed for contempt of court:

The case turned on the credibility of the competing family members, and Alexander did not hesitate to rule for Moncie in Doss v. Doss (VLW 008-8-262.) He wrote, “Emma’s testimony is not credible. She has intentionally given false testimony during the course of the trial. … In contrast to Emma’s testimony, Moncie’s testimony is credible.” Emma must have sealed her reputation with the judge when she was asked in open court in August what happened to $120,000 from the sale of one of her real estate purchases. “I used the money to pay them,” she said, pointing to the lawyers for herself and her husband. The lawyers later had to acknowledge their retainers were a good deal less than $120,000. Later, Emma submitted an affidavit purporting to account for the funds, but the judge found it insufficient and ordered Emma locked up for contempt of court. Describing the hearing, Pulley said the judge told Emma, in effect, “You’ve had two chances to tell the truth. I’m going to send you someplace where you have a chance to think about it.” “And she’s still there,” Pulley said. Alexander ordered her release if she pays $25,000 of the award