LYNDEN - Kenneth Dwayne Rogers bought a beautiful new house in Lynden, spent thousands on remodeling and landscaping and even bought his wife a three-stone diamond ring.
He did it all with money that should have been used to care for his elderly mother after he was given power of attorney with control over her finances - more than $400,000.
Once he'd burned through all her savings, he went to the state asking for assistance with her care.
Rogers, 58, is now in jail and was forced to pay back more than $494,000 he took from 80-year-old Mildred Rogers.
"There is no question that he didn't fulfill his obligation, number one, as a son and second, as power of attorney," Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney Dave McEachran said. "Using her money and then trying to turn her over to the state, that was reprehensible."
It all started in March 2006, when Rogers got power of attorney after his mother's Bonney Lake home was condemned, according to court records. The next month he moved his mother and adult disabled brother into a Bellingham apartment. He got $105,000 from the sale of her property and $300,000 from his mother's savings. His mother also received $700 per month in social security.
Within months of getting control of her money, Rogers used it to buy a $540,000 home in Lynden, thousands of dollars in furniture and a ring worth more than $7,700.
"None of that was for the interest of the mom," the prosecutor said.
Bellingham Police began investigating Rogers in September 2009, after Mildred Rogers got a pay or vacate notice from her apartment management when he had failed to pay her $925 monthly rent. That same month, he had gone to Adult Protective Services asking for state assistance, representing that he had been spending his own money on his mother and could no longer afford to do so.
A Bellingham detective met with Mildred Rogers and her adult disabled son and said the two lived a frugal life, with no expenses other than rent, food, cable, phone and some utilities. The detective estimated the amount spent on the two since April 2006 at about $40,000.
When the detective spoke with Kenneth Dwayne Rogers about his mother on Sept. 23, 2009, he admitted that he invested in a new home for himself and his family in Lynden in June 2006 and spent all of his mother's money remodeling, painting, landscaping, adding a barn and buying new appliances. He bought the house for about $540,000 and said that he had intended to sell it for about $900,000, but the real estate crash had dashed his plans.
A credit report indicated that Rogers refinanced a home loan for $417,000 in April 2009 and got a second mortgage two months later for $40,000. He also got loans to buy two cars that added up to about $35,000 that month.
When interviewed by the detective, Rogers said an elder law attorney and an accountant had both told him to set up a trust with his mother's money, but he decided not to because he thought he could do better with it.
Rogers told the detective that he didn't put his mother in a care facility when he moved her to Whatcom County because he didn't want the state to get that money. The detective reminded him that it was his mother's money, intended for her care. He consistently argued that it was his right as having power of attorney to use his mother's money the way he thought best.
He said he compensated himself what he felt was reasonable for taking care of her, but he wouldn't say how much he took for compensation.
A person with power of attorney is supposed to make decisions and use money for the other's best interest, and that was clearly not the case here, McEachran said, noting all of the personal luxuries Rogers spent his mother's money on.
A forensic accountant went over Kenneth Rogers' bank records and found that two months after getting power of attorney, he used nearly $30,000 of his mother's money to pay off a loan and two credit cards in his and his wife's names. Here are some other expenses, according to court records, that came from his joint account with his mother that were not connected to her care:
• On May 16, 2006, he paid nearly $4,700 to a moving company to move himself and his family into their new home in Lynden.
• On May 26, 2006, he paid more than $1,000 for a vacuum cleaner.
• Between June 19 and Aug. 17 2006, he spent nearly $8,700 on furniture for his home.
• On July 31, 2006, he spent more than $7,700 for a three-stone diamond ring.
• On Aug. 24, 2007, he paid $3,500 to a dentist for braces, with another nearly $1,200 check to a dentist for services on his wife, Linda Rogers.
• On Aug. 29, 2007, he paid nearly $1,400 to a sport shop for a pistol.
• On Sept. 26, 2007, he paid more than $9,900 to Lynden Christian Schools.
• On May 21, 2008, he used $3,000 to put a deposit on a $16,000 hot tub.
• On Oct. 24, 2008, he paid more than $1,800 for a water pump system for his home.
Rogers is no longer living off his mother's money. Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of third-degree theft in Whatcom County Superior Court.
In exchange for him paying full restitution to his mother, his potential 10-year sentence was reduced to 120 days in jail.
"When we got this case we thought it was just outrageous that his mother and brother were treated the way they were," McEachran said. "The whole thing was based on getting the money back for the mom. We thought that was worth giving up some of the jail time we would have gotten."
Attorneys are setting up a trust fund for the mother's restitution money, so that she and her other son can be cared for properly.
