A federal grand jury in Texas has indicted four women on charges connected to two separate schemes accused of targeting an elderly homeowner and a deceased boarding-home resident. The indictment, announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, alleges the women used a power of attorney to sell a 79-year-old woman’s home without her knowledge and diverted most of the proceeds to themselves.
What prosecutors allege
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Donella Locke, Suekya Whitney and Shakoya Crenshaw are charged with conspiracy and making false statements to financial institutions in connection with the alleged scheme: prosecutors say the group obtained power of attorney over a 79-year-old Garland, Texas resident, arranged the sale of her home, and funneled roughly $156,000 in proceeds through multiple accounts, with about $147,000 of it allegedly going to Locke, who is accused of misrepresenting the money as a “cash gift” to buy her own home.
Moving the money through multiple accounts before it reached Locke, and then labeling it a “cash gift” rather than proceeds from someone else’s home sale, is the kind of paper trail prosecutors typically point to as evidence of intent to conceal where money actually came from — a detail that becomes central once a case like this goes to trial.
A second, separate allegation
A fourth defendant, Krystle Locke, faces separate charges of theft of government money and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors allege she stole more than $50,000 in Social Security benefits belonging to a deceased boarding-home resident by redirecting the person’s disability and supplemental income payments into her own account after obtaining power of attorney.
Continuing to collect a deceased person’s Social Security and disability payments is a recognized pattern in benefits fraud cases — federal agencies generally rely on death reporting from funeral homes, family members, or other institutions to stop payments, and a gap in that reporting chain, or someone deliberately not reporting a death, can let payments continue for a period before the fraud is caught.
How a power of attorney can be misused
A power of attorney is a legal document that lets one person make financial or medical decisions on behalf of another, typically used when someone is unable to manage their own affairs due to age, illness or disability. It is a common and legitimate estate-planning tool, but it also concentrates significant control in the hands of whoever holds it, which is exactly what prosecutors allege happened here in two different ways: one case involving a person accused of using the authority to sell property behind the owner’s back, the other involving continued access to benefits payments after the person granting the authority had died.
Elder financial abuse cases involving a power of attorney are difficult to catch early precisely because the arrangement is designed to let one person act without needing constant sign-off from the other — a family member or the person themselves may not discover a problem until a bank statement, tax document, or, as prosecutors allege happened in the Garland case, a home sale is discovered after the fact.
Where the case stands
The grand jury returned the indictment August 26, 2026, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced it September 13, 2026. All four defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court; the charges against Locke, Whitney and Crenshaw carry a maximum of five years on the conspiracy count and up to 30 years on each false-statement count, while Krystle Locke faces up to 10 years per theft count plus a mandatory consecutive two-year sentence if convicted of aggravated identity theft. No trial date has been announced.
Why the potential sentences vary so much
The gap between a five-year maximum on conspiracy and a 30-year maximum on each false-statement-to-a-financial-institution count reflects how federal sentencing guidelines treat crimes involving the banking system especially seriously — a false statement made to a bank or lender carries a substantially higher statutory ceiling than a general conspiracy charge, even when both counts stem from the same underlying scheme.
Krystle Locke’s mandatory consecutive two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft, if she is convicted, reflects a federal sentencing structure that treats identity-theft-related offenses as requiring additional, non-overlapping punishment on top of whatever sentence she receives for the underlying theft charge.
What this case adds to a familiar pattern
Elder financial exploitation cases involving a trusted family member, caregiver or acquaintance who held legal authority over an older person’s finances are a recurring category of federal and state prosecution, precisely because the legal authority that makes a power of attorney useful is the same authority that makes it possible to misuse without immediate detection. This case, with two separate alleged schemes tied to power-of-attorney access, illustrates both of the most common variations: diverting proceeds from a sale the account holder was unaware of, and continuing to draw benefits after the person has died.
For families setting up a power of attorney for an aging relative, cases like this one are part of why financial and elder-law professionals often recommend building in independent oversight — a second family member who reviews statements, or periodic check-ins with the person who granted the authority — rather than relying on trust alone once the document is signed.
What happens next
With no trial date announced, the case is still in its early stages following the indictment. As with any federal indictment, the charges represent allegations that prosecutors will need to prove in court, and all four defendants retain the presumption of innocence throughout the proceedings.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Womens Overview editors prior to publication.