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Robert R. Wootters, 56, of Warrington, was sentenced to three to six years in prison at a hearing on Wednesday, March 29, said Bucks District Attorney Matthew Weintraub in a release. In court, Wootters pleaded no contest to multiple charges related to theft and financial exploitation, the DA said.
Wootters first came to the attention of investigators in March 2021, when a good Samaritan reported to Solebury police that a landscaper was taking advantage of an elderly township resident, authorities wrote.
Police then met with the victim, who lives on his own, has "no relatives to care for him," and has a "major neurocognitive disorder," the DA's office said. The senior told them that Wootters had been helping him with property maintenance for years, according to the release.
The elderly man told detectives that he paid Wootters by check "whenever Wootters requests money," and that he (the victim) had not kept track of the checks he was writing, prosecutors said.
Wootters also received payment for "taking care" of the victim, but the senior said he did all his own shopping, cooking and cleaning, police wrote. The victim added that "Wootters is barely around to assist him" and that he had not visited his doctor in some time, the release adds.
A financial review revealed that the victim had paid out $633,075 in checks to Wootters between April 2017 and April 2021, the DA said. As well, Wootters used the senior citizen's debit card to make $2,000 to $3,000 in purchases every month from December 2019 to July 2021, per the release.
In total, authorities say Wootters "obtained between $650,000 and $700,000" from the victim over four years. As part of his sentence, he will have to pay back $500,000 in restitution to the senior citizen, the DA said.
"The victim said he could not think of any work that Wootters performed to get paid that much money, adding that Wootters never gave him invoices, written statements, or bills for the services he provided," prosecutors said.
During the same period, investigators say Wootters had filed for Social Security disability benefits and fraudulently received $45,759.50 in payments for the same. He pleaded guilty to that charge in a separate case will have to pay back that amount plus serve six years on probation, the release says.
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