The defendant accused of scamming more than 17,000 euros from a man with a neurocognitive disorder has acknowledged the facts this Monday before the First Section of the Provincial Court, after reaching a settlement agreement with the Prosecutor's Office to avoid the trial. The agreement has resulted in a significant reduction of the sentence, which will mean that she will not be imprisoned.
Initially, the Prosecutor's Office requested three years in prison for M.J.C.M., but it has been reduced to one-third. Thus, it has been set at one year in prison, along with the payment of a fine of 1,440 euros. In addition, the defendant has committed to return the 17,000 euros scammed to the family of the victim, who died during the investigation.
The facts were reported by one of the daughters of the victim, who apparently had a romantic relationship with the defendant. According to the indictment of the Public Prosecutor's Office, she took advantage of "the clearly perceptible influence of the victim" and his "illiteracy" to gain his trust and induce him to designate her as authorized in his current account, thus allowing her to have access to the money he had saved.
"Once this authorization was obtained, between June 6 and August 31, 2016, the defendant proceeded to make numerous cash withdrawals, both at ATMs and at the counter, both directly and through the victim himself, in different offices in the towns of Arrecife, Puerto del Carmen and Playa Honda, up to a total of 17,020 euros," the Prosecutor's Office argued, emphasizing that the victim had limited "his intellectual and volitional faculties to govern his person and his assets."
In addition, he stressed that the defendant left the man "in a serious economic situation". And when the money withdrawals began, he had more than 15,000 euros in his account, in addition to the income he received during those months, and in the end the balance was only 561.87 euros.
