Woman accused of spending thousands of elderly father’s money on trips, cosmetic surgery

SOUTH JORDAN — A woman accused of spending tens, and possibly hundreds, of thousands of dollars of her elderly father’s retirement money on items such as airfare, travel and cosmetic surgery has been arrested.

Athena Crane Monson, 54, was arrested by South Jordan police on Tuesday at the Salt Lake International Airport as she returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic, and was booked into jail for investigation of five counts of intentional financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, five counts of theft and communications fraud.

The investigation began in January when police received a tip from Adult Protective Services that an elderly man with dementia was being defrauded by his daughter, according to a jail booking affidavit. Monson had obtained power of attorney over her father’s finances “and was using his bank account for her personal gain,” the affidavit states. “It was also reported a reverse mortgage was taken out on (the father’s) home and a lump sum was given to an unknown party.”

The father received approximately $3,000 per month in Social Security, insurance accounts and a Roth IRA, police say.

In January 2021, the father’s bank account had $60,000 in it. “At the end of April (2021), the total amount in the account was $32,055,” according to the affidavit. “From the months of May-June (2021) the account was charged $8,000 dollars. Multiple transactions were made at ATMs in Las Vegas and some money was moved into a Venmo account amounting to $1,600 dollars. At the end of June (2021), the total amount in the account was $8,700.”

Also in June 2021, the father received a deposit of $71,000 from a reverse mortgage. In just one month, from June 22, 2021, through July 20, 2021, there were 139 charges totaling more than $22,000 made to the account, the affidavit states.

“Again there are multiple transactions relating to purchasing plane tickets from Delta Air Lines, Venmo transactions and ATM withdrawals and purchases in Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada,” the affidavit states.

From July 21, 2021, through Aug. 20, 2021, there were 236 charges made to the account totaling more than $32,000, according to police. Some of those charges included purchases in New York and California and $13,000 at a cosmetic surgery company in Cottonwood Heights, according to the affidavit.

“In total, the amount of money used in 2021 for travel, Venmo, Vincent Surgical Arts, hotels and ATM withdrawals was $275,492.68,” the affidavit states.