(Editor’s Note: The following article was appropriated from North Metro Watch MN Facebook page and was verified as true by the Becker Police Department).

 Charges were filed last Saturday by a summons.

A 38-year-old Becker woman is facing five felony charges after she allegedly exploited her position as Power of Attorney to steal more than $169,000 from an 82-year-old vulnerable adult, leading to the foreclosure of the victim’s home.

Samantha Jo Garvey, 38, was charged in Sherburne County District Court with five counts of Financial Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult. The charges stem from an investigation that began in March 2025.

According to the criminal complaint, a Becker Police Officer was alerted to a possible financial exploitation case involving Victim 1, an 82-year-old woman diagnosed with dementia. Witness 1, who lives with and helps care for Victim 1, reported concerns after caregiver payments stopped and mail arrived indicating Victim 1’s credit cards were maxed out, her taxes were unpaid, and her home was being foreclosed upon.

Investigators learned that Garvey was assigned as Victim 1’s Power of Attorney in January 2020, a role that explicitly prohibited her from gifting funds to herself or anyone else.

A review of bank records allegedly revealed that Garvey’s personal income had stopped in October 2022. The complaint details that between January 2020 and March 2025, Garvey allegedly transferred $145,772.23 from Victim 1’s accounts into her own. An additional $23,257.62 was reportedly moved from Victim 1’s accounts to Venmo and then transferred to Garvey’s Venmo account.

The complaint also alleges Garvey used a business account owned by Victim 1 to pay for her own mortgage and student loans, driving the account into a negative balance. Investigators determined that Victim 1’s home went into foreclosure because her bank account, which was set up for automatic bill payments, had been emptied.

When confronted by police on May 2, 2025, Garvey allegedly admitted she was in a “financial pinch” and used the victim’s money to get through. According to the complaint, she acknowledged, “I f---ed up, I f---ed up big,” and said she always intended to replenish the money. To date, she has not provided documentation to support that the funds were used for the benefit of Victim 1.

If convicted on the most serious charges, Garvey faces up to 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.