CF woman accused of neglecting senior citizen

SANDPOINT — Negotiations appear to be underway in the case of a Clark Fork woman accused of neglecting a bed-ridden senior citizen and raiding her finances while she was in a vulnerable state.

Sharyl Ann Hoskins is charged with neglecting and exploiting a vulnerable adult, a misdemeanor.

The allegations against Hoskins surfaced after the 73-year-old woman’s bank and a credit union began noticing that Hoskins was depositing checks from the woman’s accounts using a signature that was markedly different than the signature they had on file. A Ponderay bank sought to verify the authenticity of the checks, but a manager was unable to contact her, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The first suspicious check was written in November 2015 for $53. The sums escalated from hundreds to thousands of dollars earlier this year. All told, nearly $26,000 worth of suspicious checks were drawn up, the affidavit said. However, the banks declined to honor some of the checks because of the suspicious signatures.

Bank officials noted that the size of the checks increased after $181,000 from the sale of a property was deposited in the woman’s account.

Ponderay Police investigated the alleged forgeries and discovered the elderly woman was confined to a bed with plywood sideboards, which meant she could not get out of bed without some form of assistance, the affidavit said. The woman also didn’t have access to a phone or intercom.

An official from the Idaho Commission on Aging conducted a welfare check on the woman in March and discovered she was locked in the residence alone and screaming in fear, court documents indicate. The official concluded the woman needed 24-hour assistance and although it appeared she was receiving care, it also appeared that she was being left alone overnight.

Officers confronted Hoskins about the checks and she said she had the authority to write them to pay the woman’s bills and compensate her for providing care to the woman, a Ponderay Police report said. Hoskins allegedly agreed to bring in documentation to back up her claims, but never did and disconnected her phone number, the report said.

Hoskins later said that the woman’s signature changed as a result of a stroke and claimed that the woman signed the checks, which contradicted Hoskins’ earlier statement that she was writing checks on the woman’s account with permission.

Hoskins had also attempted to close out one of the banking accounts, but credit union officials refused because signatures on a power of attorney document were not notarized, according to court records.

Hoskins, 49, pleaded not guilty and is free on her own recognizance while the case is pending.

A pretrial conference was set for Friday, although it was called off amid an effort the resolve the case without a trial, Bonner County Magistrate Court records indicate.