ETOWAH COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) - Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the conviction and sentence of an Etowah County woman for Financial Exploitation of an elderly person.

Officials say 63-year-old Gina Cook Gilbert, of Gadsden, pleaded guilty Friday, March 22, to one count of first-degree financial exploitation of her elderly mother while she was the conservator of her financial accounts.

“Elderly citizens deserve to be protected and taken care of when they are unable to care for themselves without worrying that their caregiver is exploiting them,” said Marshall. “Unfortunately, this can even happen when the caregiver is a family member. We cannot allow those who take advantage of the elderly to go unpunished, and I will continue to fight to make sure we hold those accountable who have accepted the responsibility to care for another person.”

Officials said Gilbert had been made conservator over the financial account of her mother, Patricia Jerome, in October 2014. Less than four years after being appointed conservator over the account, it was discovered that Gilbert used her mother’s financial resources for her own personal expenses and breached her fiduciary duties in caring for her mother’s resources.

During a civil lawsuit concerning the conservatorship and the subsequent criminal investigation, Gilbert admitted that she was unable to account for more than $2.5 million of her mother’s financial resources. Although Gilbert repaid the stolen funds at the conclusion of the civil case, the victim of this crime, Patricia Jerome, passed away before she saw her daughter held accountable for taking advantage of her position as conservator, according to officials.

Gilbert was sentenced to five years in the Alabama Department of Corrections and ordered to serve two years of probation.

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Gadsden woman convicted for financial exploitation of her mother