Three people are set to appear in a Washington court in connection with the alleged theft of more than one million dollars in assets from an elderly relative in Bellevue. According to police, the accused are family members of the victim, an 88-year-old woman, making the case a striking example of the kind of financial exploitation that can target vulnerable older people from within their own families. A plea entry in the case was scheduled to take place.
Bellevue police identified the three accused as Abner Ang, Manivoni and their nephew, Evan Ang. Investigators say the group stole from Abner's 88-year-old aunt, drawing down assets that the elderly woman had spent a lifetime accumulating. The scale of the alleged theft, more than one million dollars, points to a systematic effort rather than a one-off act, according to the account laid out by police.
At the center of the case is the question of control over the victim's affairs. Investigators say Abner obtained power of attorney rights from the elderly woman, a legal authority that would have given him significant control over her property and finances. That authority, police allege, was then used not to protect the woman's interests but to strip away her most valuable assets.
One of the central allegations involves the victim's home. According to investigators, the woman's house was gifted to the nephew, Evan, less than a month after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The timing is a key detail, coming just as the woman was receiving a diagnosis of a condition that progressively erodes memory and judgment, leaving her especially vulnerable to decisions made in her name.
From there, police say, the alleged scheme moved quickly to convert the property into cash and new assets. The suspects then allegedly sold the house in Bellevue and used the proceeds to buy a new home in Kent. On top of that, investigators say the group spent almost 200,000 dollars of the victim's money, further depleting the elderly woman's estate.
When they were interviewed by investigators, the suspects reportedly defended their actions rather than acknowledging wrongdoing. According to police, they said the victim had granted them power of attorney and had trusted them, and they insisted they had done nothing wrong. Investigators described the suspects as appearing oblivious to the fact that what they were doing amounted to a crime, believing instead that there was nothing wrong with spending the woman's money.
The case now moves into the court process, with a plea entry scheduled for the three accused. The allegations, if proven, would represent a serious case of elder financial abuse, in which legal tools meant to help a vulnerable person manage her affairs were allegedly turned into instruments to take her home and her savings. For now, the suspects are due before the court as the legal proceedings against them get underway.