Nursing Home Resident Fleeced by Former Prosecutor
Seventy-three year old Margaret Patton suffered from dementia and was dying from cancer that had spread to her brain. At times, she was heavily sedated with morphine for her own comfort. Her three granddaughters, whom she had raised, visited her regularly. Strangely, these three women who were so close to their grandmother had never met Eric Joe Penn, her alleged "nephew" and their grandmother had never mentioned him.
Randy Ray Richardson, a former prosecutor with the District Attorney's Office, and Eric Joe Penn were convicted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 of first degree aggravated theft. Richardson was also found guilty of deceiving the woman to get her to sign documents deeding her home to Penn, her alleged nephew.
This is not Richardson's first scrape with the law. Richardson resigned in 2000 from the District Attorney's Office while he was being investigated for participating in a pyramid scheme, for which he was never charged. Other accusations of wrongdoing include bribing a witness in 2006 and burglarizing a former girlfriend's home. In 2002, he was accused of holding a woman by her throat. In 2005, he was seen on surveillance tape hitting a woman so hard that she was knocked to the floor of a parking garage. He was never convicted on any of these wrongdoings.
Allegedly, Penn contacted Richardson to help him get his "aunt" to sign over her house. When the men went to the nursing home, Margaret Patton was heavily sedated on morphine. A nurse from the nursing home facility testified that she told Penn that his aunt was in no condition to sign legal documents; Penn told her to leave the room.
Several days after Patton was tricked into signing over her home, she made an audio recording saying that she had been tricked into signing over her home. She was given the impression that if she signed the documents Penn provided that she would be allowed to go home to die, not deed the house to him. Penn did take Margaret Patton home but returned her to the facility the next day because "she refused to take her painkillers". Allegedly, Richardson told Margaret Patton not to trust her grandchildren, who visited her daily.
Margaret Patton's house was won back by court order.
The Terry Law Firm is experienced in handling cases of nursing home abuse and neglect. Please contact us with any questions or concerns at 1 (888) 317-2525 or visit us on our website.
