Man who bilked elderly woman gets 2 years

A Vancouver man convicted of bilking an 86-year-old woman out of at least $50,000 has been sentenced to more than two years in prison, court records show.

In August, a Clark County Superior Court jury found Mark A. Miller, 56, guilty of first-degree theft, attempted first-degree theft and first-degree criminal impersonation. He was sentenced Sept. 18 to 27 months in prison.

Miller had worked for Chase Bank as a financial planner from June 2015 to June 2016, during which time he had access to the victim’s financial portfolio. He later resigned from the bank in lieu of being fired for doing business deals on the side, and initiated a relationship with the victim, who resided at a nursing facility in Camas. He began managing her finances, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

The victim told a social services coordinator at the nursing facility that Miller loved her and was going to leave his wife for her. When Miller was confronted, he told the coordinator he was the victim’s financial planner. Logs showed he had visited the victim numerous times between August and September 2016, the affidavit states.

On Aug. 22, 2016, the victim said Miller told her she needed a vacation and to get him $50,000 to get everything squared away. A friend of Miller’s took the victim to the Chase Bank branch at Fred Meyer, 16600 S.E. McGillivray Blvd., in Vancouver. The victim obtained a cashier’s check for $50,000 and gave it to the friend to give to Miller, court records say.

Miller became upset, however, because he wanted cash. He asked the victim to convert the check to cash so he could invest the money into gold, which she did. He then kept $45,000 and gave $5,000 to his friend, according to court documents.

When Miller never delivered the gold to the victim, she demanded that he return her money, but she never heard from him about it again. Then on Sept. 1, 2016, Miller called the victim’s insurance company, where she had two annuity accounts valued at nearly $240,000, and pretended to be her nephew. He told a representative with the company that he handles the victim’s finances, the affidavit states.

Miller told the representative he was concerned that the victim wasn’t going to have enough money to cover her medical expenses. He asked for paperwork so that the two annuity accounts could be surrendered. The insurance company sent the paperwork to the victim’s address and received it back. It then mailed her a check for $61,350.32 and another for $177,693.20 on Sept. 9, 2016, court records say.

After receiving the checks, Miller told the victim to cash out the annuities and give him the money for investing. The victim disclosed her conversations with Miller to a private attorney who then obtained a Vulnerable Adult Protection Order against him, according to court documents.

Investigators ran a background check on Miller and found he had filed for bankruptcy in 1999 and 2011, and had a federal judgment of about $282,000 against him. A lien had been placed against his home, and his paychecks were being garnished. The federal judgment was the result of money he had stolen from an elderly woman in Oregon, the affidavit states.

Miller is appealing his Clark County convictions, court record show.