A Day in Jail for Draining Dying Elderly Woman’s CU Account

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – An elderly caregiver was sentenced to a day in jail and ordered to repay $178,000 she stole from the credit union account of an old woman she was caring for. Stacey Banks, 30, knew that the woman for whom she held power of attorney didn’t have all of her mental faculties and ‘preyed upon’ her to drain her account at Educational Community CU, the Kalamazoo County Judge said Tuesday during Banks’ sentencing. Banks’ mother-in-law, Alberta Banks, who was the chief caregiver for Mildred Riedell-Guimond, was also sentenced in the scheme last month. The two women were ordered to make restitution to the family members of Riedell-Guimond, who died in 2004 at age 86. Stacey Banks was also ordered to have no contact with anyone over 65 who is not a family member without the permission of her probation officer.