Couple charged with financial exploitation, abuse of man’s mother
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
An Atmore man and his common-law wife remained behind bars as midweek approached after their arrest on charges of financial, physical and emotional abuse of the man’s 76-year-old mother.
Escambia County Detention Center records show that Todd Jefferson Morris, 53, and Kimberly Ann Mason, 55, both of a Perry Lane residence near Canoe, were arrested June 14 after an investigation determined that they had abused and neglected Morris’s mother.
The couple is charged with taking property valued at “more than $500 but less than $2,500” from the woman or converting that amount of property to their personal use.
Court documents show that Morris and Mason lived in the woman’s home, where utility bills ran as high as $675 per month.
Most of the abuse apparently came from Mason, as court papers show she abused her common-law husband’s mother emotionally by making “derogatory, obscene comments and causing her to fear being alone with Mason.”
Mason is also accused of slapping the elderly woman in the face at least once.
Morris is being held under $100,000 bond on one count of financial exploitation of the elderly, while Mason is being held under bond of $125,000 on one count each of financial exploitation of the elderly and elderly abuse and neglect, as well as two counts of harassment.
Should either make bond, he or she is also ordered to have no contact with the victim.
Depending upon the degree of abuse and/or neglect, such crimes can be prosecuted under Alabama law as a Class A felony, a Class C felony or a Class A misdemeanor.