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(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — A Knox County grand jury has indicted a former law enforcement officer and his wife on seven felony charges stemming from the theft of over $450,000 from an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s disease, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today.
The indictment charges Gambier residents Daniel and Elisabeth Bobo with one count each of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and complicity to theft, both first-degree felonies; two counts of misuse of a credit card, a second-degree felony; and three counts of telecommunications fraud, a third-degree felony.
“This couple thought they could get away with taking advantage of a woman who lost her husband, was struggling with dementia and welcomed their help,” Yost said. “They betrayed her trust and took care of themselves instead – with her money.”
Daniel Bobo, a deputy sergeant for the Knox County Sheriff’s Office during the alleged criminal activity, resigned effective Sept. 3, 2021.
Daniel Bobo befriended Kay and Richard Hoppe; helped the couple move into a Mount Vernon nursing home; and, after Mr. Hoppe died in 2018, allegedly persuaded Mrs. Hoppe, whose Alzheimer’s had recently been diagnosed, to grant him power of attorney. Before her death on Aug. 3, 2020, at age 78, Daniel Bobo had also been named executor of Mrs. Hoppe’s estate.
From Dec. 17, 2017, through Nov. 30, 2020, the couple is believed to have used more than $450,000 of Mrs. Hoppe’s money for their personal expenses.
The attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) investigated the case, and the Special Prosecutions Section of Yost’s office will prosecute it.
The Elder Justice Unit – a collaborative effort of the attorney general’s Crime Victim Services, Consumer Protection, Health Care Fraud and Social Prosecutions sections and BCI – works to educate Ohioans about the warning signs and risks of financial exploitation. Elderly people, especially, are vulnerable to such crime.