Mother, Daughter Accused of Stealing Thousands From Elderly

HOUSTON, Miss. — Saltillo mother and her daughter have been arrested and charged with exploiting a vulnerable person under the mother’s care, announced Attorney General Jim Hood today.

Dorothy Whitmon (formerly Whaley), 63, of Saltillo, was arrested Thursday by investigators with the Attorney General’s Vulnerable Adults Unit with the assistance of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Whitmon is charged with embezzlement and Exploitation of Vulnerable Adult. She was booked into the Lee County jail and placed on $10,000 bond.

If convicted, she faces up to ten years behind bars on each of the charges (total of 20).

Whitmon’s daughter, April Whaley, 24, was also arrested and charged with one count of exploitation. She was booked into the Lee County jail and placed on $10,000 bond. If convicted, she faces up to ten years behind bars.

Whitmon and Whaley are accused of exploiting a woman with dementia, for whom Whitmon served as caretaker.

Whitmon is accused, while acting in the capacity of caretaker for the alleged victim, of taking approximately $162,000 from the alleged victim’s checking accounts and retirement savings and converting them to her own use. Whitmon is also alleged to have quitclaimed two of the alleged victim’s properties, totaling over $200,000, to herself.

Whaley is alleged to have used the alleged victim’s bank card to withdraw approximately $33,000 for her personal use.

As with all cases, the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by Russell Frazier and will be prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Marvin Sanders of the Attorney General’s Vulnerable Adults Unit.