A Bensalem woman will spend close to one to two years in the Bucks County Correctional Facility for stealing $6,500 from her 89-year-old grandmother in the county’s first conviction of a recently passed law aimed at protecting seniors from financial abuse.

Rebecca Scott, 43, of Argyle Way, entered guilty pleas on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, to financial exploitation of an older adult or care-dependent person, theft by unlawful taking, access device fraud and forgery, all felonies of the third degree.

The new law of “financial exploitation of an older adult or care-dependent person” went into effect on Aug. 29, 2021. The law makes it a felony for a family member or other persons in a position of trust to wrongfully or without authorization take or attempt to take money, property or other assets from older adult or care-dependent person. An older adult is defined as anyone over 60.

In court Wednesday, Scott admitted she stole and cashed one of her grandmother’s checks for $6,500, altered another one in an attempted to take $10,000 more, and placed an order to have a box of her grandmother’s checks sent to her home in Bensalem.

Describing Scott as a “con woman,” Common Pleas Judge Diane E. Gibbons sentenced her to one year less a day to two years less a day in the county jail, plus five years of probation. She also ordered her to repay all the money she took at $200 a month.

“You engaged in a systematic victimization of the most vulnerable people you could possibly find,” Gibbons said in handing down the sentence.

Bensalem Police began the investigation on Sept. 28, 2021, when an 89-year-old woman reported that she was the victim of financial exploitation by her granddaughter, Rebecca Scott.

That month, the grandmother said Scott made an unexpected visit to her home and she later discovered that she had four checks missing from her checkbook. She later learned that one of the checks was cashed for $6,500, and investigators determined Scott used it to pay her rent.

The victim also told investigators about two other incidents.

She said in April 2021, Scott had asked her if she could borrow money and she agreed to give her $3,000. Scott later returned and asked for more money, and she agreed to lend her $2,000.

The victim later went grocery shopping, and when she went to pay, she was informed her account had insufficient funds. She discovered it was because Scott had changed the amount on the check from $2,000 to $12,000. The grandmother was able to get reimbursed by her bank.

The victim said in June 2021 she received an inquiry about an order of new blank checks, but she said she never ordered them. She discovered the new checks had been ordered with her name and bank account printed on them, but they were being shipped to her granddaughter.

“Scott is a serial thief who violated her 89-year-old grandmother’s trust,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said. “She will now spend up to two years behind bars for preying on one of society’s most vulnerable members. I credit Bensalem PD and Deputy DA Furber for protecting this victim from additional harm.”

Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber told Judge Gibbons that Scott had three prior convictions of financial crimes, including getting a $4,000 loan from a 75-year-old family friend and then repaying her with bad checks, making four unauthorized transactions for more than $4,400 from another person’s bank account, and a check-kiting scheme that cost a Bensalem bank $4,000.

This case was investigated by Bensalem Township Detective Stephen Clark and Officer Kate Bailey and was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber.