Monday, December 22, 2014

Emporia man sentenced to more than 8 years for mistreatment of dependent adult

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- An Emporia man was sentenced today to more than eight years in prison for mistreatment of a dependent adult and conspiring to mistreat a dependent adult, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.

Rick Miller, 60, was sentenced to 98 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections and fined $200,000 by Judge W. Lee Fowler in Lyon County District Court.

Miller was convicted by a jury last month of both charges. His codefendant, Dalene Miller, with whom he was found guilty of conspiring, was convicted and sentenced in September to more than 7 years in prison. Charges for both defendants stemmed from a complaint sent to Adult Protective Services in May 2011.

An investigation by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division and the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office discovered that between July 2011 and January 2012, Dalene Miller acted as durable power of attorney and trustee for her mother-in-law and the couple made purchases including a house, farm and truck while nursing home and other expenses went unpaid.

Assistant Attorneys General Stefani Hepford and Robert Novak prosecuted the case with assistance from the Lyon County Attorney’s Office.