COLVILLE, Wash. (AP) — A man accused of mistreating a 106-year-old Kettle Falls woman in his care now has been charged with theft for spending $800,000 in her accounts.
KREM reports (http://bit.ly/rrq1vm ) 78-year-old John Friedlund appeared in Stevens County Superior Court Wednesday and he’s due back on Aug. 16 for arraignment.
Prosecutors say he went on a spending spree with money belonging to Frances T. Swan and bought several cars, a horse trailer and a bulldozer. They also say $200,000 went to a person in Texas, and they speculate it was used to pay for a sex-change operation.
Swan was found in squalid conditions and begging for food in May when a deputy stopped at her home. She’s now doing well at a Colville nursing home. Friedlund has pleaded not guilty to criminal mistreatment.
