Former Eagan woman pleads guilty to stealing from autistic neighbor

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Former Eagan woman pleads guilty to stealing from autistic neighbor

By Maricella Miranda

Updated: 01/10/2011 12:00:22 PM CST

A former Eagan woman pleaded guilty today to three felonies after admitting to

stealing nearly $400,000 from an autistic neighbor's inheritance.

Katharine Louise Rosenthal, 41, who now lives in St. Cloud, initially faced 12

felonies, including four counts of theft, four counts of theft by swindle and

four counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, according to a

Dakota County District Court criminal complaint. In a plea agreement, she

pleaded guilty to three of the financial exploitation counts.

She is scheduled to be sentenced March 7.

The charges each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Dakota County authorities arrested Rosenthal in September 2009 at a hotel in

Baxter, Minn., according to police. She was later released on bond with

conditions.

The criminal complaint does not identify the victim of the thefts but states

that he is 49 years old and has been diagnosed with autism. A family friend who

is also a lawyer reported the theft to Eagan police, who said it unfolded in the

following manner:

The victim's mother, with whom he lived along with his father until her death in

1997, worked for 33 years as a librarian at the Federal Reserve Bank in

Minneapolis, the complaint said. During that time, she saved money using the

bank's Thrift Plan. Some of this money was used to support the victim and his

father after her death.

The victim worked as a janitor at a local grocery store.

In 2003, the victim's father became ill with emphysema. Sometime thereafter, the

father granted power of attorney to a married couple, Katharine Rosenthal and

her husband, Rosenthal. They lived in the same apartment building as the

victim and his father.

The victim told friends he thought the power of attorney was for medical care

only.

The victim's father died in May 2004.

Shortly thereafter, Katharine Rosenthal began to withdraw funds from the

account, the complaint stated. More than $40,000 was withdrawn for Rosenthal to

pay off student loans. She later cashed in and deposited more than $170,000

worth of savings bonds — all in the name of the victim's father — into her

account, the complaint said.

She also emptied the victim's mother's thrift account of its remaining $113,000,

which she deposited to an account in her name, according to the charges.

The lawyer friend of the family confronted the Rosenthals about the money after

the victim told his friend he planned to move to Texas with the couple.

Katharine Rosenthal had bought a $218,000 house in Cibolo, Texas, using the

money in her personal account.

When confronted, Katharine Rosenthal allegedly said, " That's my money. "

The complaint says the victim moved with the Rosenthals to Texas but later moved

back to Minnesota and did not receive any benefit from the house in Texas.