by Brad Johnson

Bolyard

BELINGTON — A Barbour County man has been arrested and charged with taking more than $10,000 from an elderly woman for gambling funds.  

Chad Bolyard, 46, has been charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person.

According to the criminal complaint, prepared by Senior Trooper B.S. Stout of the West Virginia State Police, on Jan. 3, an officer was told that Bolyard had taken the debit card of a 70-year-old Woman and refused to give it back to her, making charges she did not know about.

A Freedom Bank employee told police that Bolyard and the woman came into the Belington bank, and when she was told her checking account was overdrawn “due to some gambling charges,” she said she didn’t know anything about that, the complaint states. Bolyard allegedly said he had made the charges but didn’t tell her about them.

Officers learned that she had attempted to move money from another account into her checking account but the bank declined to transfer the funds, due to the influence of Bolyard, who told her to “shut up” when she stated, “I don’t even know why I’m here,” according to the complaint.

Bolyard allegedly became “agitated” and “verbally aggressive” with bank employees, demanding that they transfer the money, the complaint states.

Police were told Bolyard had been “in the background of phone calls” and in person telling the elderly woman what to say and what to do with her finances.

Officers also learned Bolyard’s overdraft on the woman’s account meant that she could not “get the utilities hooked up” at her residence, according to the complaint.

Bolyard allegedly took “approximately $6,708 in ATM withdrawals, $548 in gambling charges, $243.58 in Amazon charges, $231.61 in Elevate Jewels charges, and $2,300 in cash back from deposits, for a total of $10,031.19 in financial extortion,” the complaint states.

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Man accused of exploiting $10K from elderly woman