A Broward County woman is facing a felony charge years after she allegedly exploited a “totally incapacitated” elderly man, in part, by selling his home in Pompano Beach, court records show.
Joy Holder, 57, of Tamarac, was held in the Paul Rein Detention Facility as of Monday on one count of elderly exploitation under $100,000, jail records show.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office had been investigating Holder since at least July 2023, county court records show.
Holder previously was designated as the alleged victim’s power of attorney, which was suspended by a judge after it was discovered that “large sums of money” were being withdrawn from the man’s bank accounts without him knowing, according to a petition written by a Department of Children and Families adult protective investigator filed in Broward court in June 2023. The man at the time was 73 years old and defined by the court as an adult vulnerable to exploitation, according to the petition.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were drained from the man’s bank account in a short period of time, including through CashApp payments and large purchases at spas and jewelry stores, according to a July 2023 report by a Broward County general magistrate. The man owned two homes where Holder was also listed on the deed; both were believed to have been purchased with his money, the magistrate wrote in the report.
Joy Holder is held in the Paul Rein Detention Facility as of Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (Broward Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)
Beginning in September 2022, there were “many transfers” from the man’s bank accounts to “other parties,” including one instance in December that year where more than $53,000 was taken from his account, according to the general magistrate report.
One of the man’s bank accounts went from $70,000 to $0.25 within a short period of time and one of his accounts had a cash withdrawal of about $400,000, according to court records.
In previous court proceedings in 2023, Holder testified that she became the man’s power of attorney in September 2022, that he purchased the home she lived in for $400,000 in cash, which she was also on the title of, and that “everything that was done, was done with the consent” of the alleged victim.
In March 2025, a Broward Sheriff’s deputy met with an attorney representing the alleged victim’s court-appointed guardian to discuss new information recently revealed in civil court proceedings, including the discovery of a bank account with both Holder’s and the elderly man’s names on it, according to the probable cause affidavit for Holder’s arrest.
Holder is accused of misappropriating $345,000 of the man’s assets “by unlawfully selling his real
property and personal home” in Pompano Beach, the affidavit said, “while being aware that the victim was a vulnerable adult.” In September 2022, a total of $319,000 was deposited into a Citibank account from a South Florida escrow company, which Holder allegedly used for herself, according to the affidavit.
A warrant for Holder’s arrest was issued this January, and she was booked into the jail Thursday.
She has not yet entered a plea to the charge. Attorney information was not available Monday.
Two of Holder’s relatives are named in the affidavit and other court records as being involved in the alleged exploitation of the man. Broward court records do not show any criminal charges filed against them as of Monday.