Business owner pleads guilty
- Published: October 7, 2010
Local resident and business owner Elizabeth Stardancer pled guilty to a third-degree felony of abuse of an elderly person in Greene County Common Pleas Court on Friday, Oct. 1. Stardancer, the owner of Dragon Tree Tattoo and Gifts on Corry Street, admitted at Friday’s plea hearing to having persuaded an 80-year-old man from Clark County into giving her $20,000 for the purchase of the local business last summer, according to Yellow Springs Police Sergeant Dennis Nipper.
Judge Timothy Campbell presentenced Stardancer to six months probation and ordered her to repay $5,000 in restitution immediately. Stardancer is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Dec. 6, following an investigation by the Greene County Adult Probation Department, which could result in an order to repay up to $20,000 more, serve three to five years of jail time, and serve additional probation, according to Nipper.
Stardancer, 51, also known as Elizabeth Warren, began working as a home aid for an elderly resident in New Carlisle in November 2009, according to Randy Allen, a family member and Yellow Springs resident. Over the past several years Allen’s father had a series of strokes and developed increasing symptoms of dementia, he said last week. Several months after Stardancer began working in his father’s home he noticed that his father’s bank account was suddenly dropping by thousands of dollars, and he alerted the police to a possible case of fraud, he said.
While police and the family estimate the total amount of purchases and money taken over the past six to eight months to be in gross excess of $25,000, the family will likely pursue those charges in civil court in Clark County, where the victim lived, Nipper said.
Friday’s plea doesn’t impress Allen, who felt that Stardancer never expressed remorse or contrition for her actions. He had hoped she would apologize for the harm she caused, he said.
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