Harrisburg man pleads guilty to grand theft from grandmother

A Harrisburg man has admitted to emptying more than $62,000 from his 89-year-old grandmother's savings accounts and using much of the money to pay personal bills, including a $5,000 settlement with his ex-wife.

Troy Michael Derrick, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of grand theft and one count of misdemeanor petty theft in a deal that leaves him open to up to a year in jail and up to 10 years of suspended prison time.

Derrick came to the attention of authorities after an agent with the Department of Social Services called police in April of 2013 to report that the bill at the grandmother's assisted living center had fallen more than $14,000 behind. The person responsible for paying the bill, Derrick, had stopped doing so.

Derrick's grandmother had been diagnosed with dementia. She has since passed away.

Police learned last year that Derrick was given power of attorney over his grandmother's accounts in 2005 and had been in charge of the money since his grandfather's death in November 2012. Bank representatives told the detective that Derrick wrote checks to himself, closed out IRA and savings accounts and took out cash on multiple occasions directly from the bank.

The cash withdrawals totaled more than $45,000.

"Essentially, all of (the victim's) money had been taken out," Minnehaha County Deputy State's Attorney Don Hanson said Wednesday.

When contacted by detectives, Derrick admitted the money was gone and that his grandmother's bill was not current.

During his plea hearing Wednesday, Derrick admitted that he used the money for his own reasons, but he also told Judge Mark Salter that some of the money was given to his grandmother.

"I'd given my aunt several thousand dollars to buy things for my grandmother," said Derrick, who signed his own name on the withdrawal slips because the bank asked for his signature, he said.

"I told (the detective) that I had spent $25,000 to my own benefit," Derrick said.

Judge Salter asked Derrick what he'd spent the money on, but he said he hadn't itemized it.

"Honestly, I couldn't even really tell you everything I used it for," he said. "I used it for bills a lot. I gave my ex-wife $5,000 because I had a settlement with her."

The plea agreement sets aside prison time for Derrick, but Hanson said the petty theft charge was added to allow the judge to sentence Derrick to up to a year in the county jail. The petty theft charge relates to a specific check for $500 written in May of 2103.

Salter told Derrick that the plea deal also gave him the latitude to suspend prison time contingent on him making timely restitution payments.

Derrick's sentencing was delayed until a later date.