VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A husband and wife exploited the man’s elderly father, stole more than $186,000 from him, and abandoned him in Deltona after they sold his home and moved back to Arizona, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said Javier Dross, 62, and Lydia Dross, 57, moved to Florida in May 2019 to live with Javier Dross’s 87-year-old father after his mother died. The victim has limited vision and mobility, records show.
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In May, the couple got the victim to sign over power of attorney documents they drafted themselves, created a do not resuscitate order for him, and then sold his Deltona home, according to the report.
The victim said he didn’t know what he was signing but did it because he trusted his son.
After the home was sold, deputies said Javier Dross transferred all the money into his wife’s bank account, deactivated his father’s debit card, and dropped him off at a family friend’s home so he and his wife could move back to Arizona.
Records show Javier Dross initially paid the family friend $1,200 per month to take care of his father but those payments stopped after he and his father got into an argument about finances.
Javier Dross claimed that he would eventually move his father to Arizona to live with him but that never happened.
The investigation into the exploitation began in September and detectives said they were able to determine that the couple took $186,400.80 from the victim and used it for airfare, hotels, rent, retail shopping, car insurance, and meals out at restaurants.
The couple was arrested Friday in Arizona on charges of exploiting the elderly.