A Mohnton man and his wife have been convicted by a Berks County jury of letting his 86-year-old, care-dependent mother live in squalor while they stole thousands of dollars from her for to pay for landscaping, home renovations and other expenses.
Jonathan Sobkowiak, 54, was convicted of neglect of a care-dependent person, financial exploitation of an elderly adult and theft. Li Zheng, 46, was convicted of neglect of a care-dependent person.
They are scheduled to be sentenced in October.
The pair were convicted Aug. 24 of using Sobkowiak’s power of attorney for his mother to remove her from a nursing home, keep her isolated and malnourished in his basement and steal about $200,000 from her between 2020 and 2022.
According to court documents:
An investigation into Sobkowiak and Zheng was initiated after the victim’s daughter contacted the Berks County Area Agency on Aging in July 2022.
The daughter provided a photo she had received from Sobkowiak that showed their mother in poor condition sitting nude and slumped over in a bathtub with feces up to her back.
That same day, emergency medical services and an Area Agency on Aging representative performed a wellness check. The victim was found in a bedroom in the basement of Sobkowiak’s home.
It was determined by EMS that the victim needed to be taken to the hospital — a move which Sobkowiak initially resisted.
The room in which the victim was living contained no other furniture than a mattress on the floor. She was wearing soiled clothing that appeared to have not been changed in several days.
The victim had visible bed sores.
She was taken to a local hospital, where she initially was diagnosed with dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, weakness, pneumonia, bronchitis, influenza, urinary tract infection, confusion, viral syndrome, stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and neglect.
It was determined that she had not been receiving four prescribed medications since her son had taken her out of a local nursing home in May 2020.
Further testing showed the victim was suffering from several pressure ulcers of the skin, weakness, multiple strokes, chronic vertebral fracture due to osteoporosis, malnutrition, sacral ulcer, mastoiditis of the right side, hypertension and weakness.
A review of the victim’s bank account showed that between May 2020 and July 2022 Sobkowiak used the power of attorney he had to spend over $200,000 of her money. That included proceeds from selling her house.
Sobkowiak spent that money in a variety of ways including: over $40,000 on landscaping improvements; over $13,000 for a new fireplace; $3,000 for a luxury coffee maker; and $6,000 for a leather sofa and love seat.