What to Know
- A man has been arrested and charged for neglect and stealing nearly $90,000 from a 90-year-old New Jersey woman in his care over the course of almost four years, according to Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo.
- Castor A. Toro, 52, is charged with second-degree theft, second-degree theft by deception, and third-degree abandonment or neglect of an elderly person.
- A review of financial records and numerous interviews with friends, family members, and neighbors of the 90-year-old woman revealed that, starting about October 2016, Toro allegedly began siphoning money from her while living rent-free at her Fanwood home.
A man has been arrested and charged for neglect and stealing nearly $90,000 from a 90-year-old New Jersey woman in his care over the course of almost four years, according to Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo.
Castor A. Toro, 52, is charged with second-degree theft, second-degree theft by deception, and third-degree abandonment or neglect of an elderly person. Convictions on second-degree criminal charges are commonly punishable by 5 to 10 years in state prison, while third-degree crimes can result in terms of 3 to 5 years.
Attorney information for Toro was not immediately known.
The charges are the result of an investigation by the Special Prosecutions Unit of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office that began after allegedly receiving a referral from the Union County office of the New Jersey Department of Human Services Adult Protective Services, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Patricia Cronin.
A review of financial records and numerous interviews with friends, family members, and neighbors of the 90-year-old woman revealed that, starting about October 2016, Toro allegedly began siphoning money from her while living rent-free at her Fanwood home.
Additionally, Toro allegedly opened credit cards in the woman's name without her knowledge or consent and used her existing credit cards for personal expenses. He also allegedly wrote himself checks from her bank account and tricked her into writing him checks, claiming they were for “investments” over the course of nearly four years.
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According to the prosecutor's office, the investigation also uncovered a pattern of alleged neglect in which Toro allegedly took steps to isolate the woman– including limiting her access to others, cutting off her access to a telephone, and on at least one occasion, locking her in her own room. Additionally, on another occasion, Toro allegedly took the woman to an attorney’s office under false pretenses, where he coerced her into signing a will naming him as a beneficiary.
On Tuesday, members of the Special Prosecutions Unit and Fanwood Police Department executed a search warrant at the woman's home, where they seized evidence of the alleged crimes committed and subsequently charged Toro that same day. He turned himself in that evening.
Meanwhile, the woman has since been taken to the home of a relative.
