Perry County coroner bound over for arraignment on felony charges

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- A judge found probable cause Tuesday to bind Perry County Coroner Herbert Miller over for arraignment on felony charges of financial exploitation of the elderly and theft.

Miller is accused of taking more than $80,000 from a 94-year-old woman over whom he had power of attorney.

At a preliminary hearing Tuesday morning in Perry County Circuit Court, Judge Gary Kamp heard testimony from the woman's doctor, a nursing-home billing manager and a state investigator.

According to a probable-cause affidavit filed by Gregrey Martin, an investigator for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the woman, now 94, appointed Miller as her durable power of attorney in January 2004.

She entered a Perryville nursing home in August 2008 after being diagnosed with dementia.

In court Tuesday, Andrea Southard, billing manager for the nursing home, said in late April or early May, a billing issue arose, and she contacted Medicaid to find out whether anyone had applied for assistance on the woman's behalf.

Southard learned no application had been submitted, so she asked Miller to bring the woman's application, bank statements and other records so she could review the information and submit the application, she testified.

In reviewing the paperwork, Southard noticed several checks payable to cash, beginning in 2009, along with a few checks to Miller Family Funeral Home "in excessive amounts that were also red flags," she said.

Southard sent the application to Medicaid, and a caseworker saw the checks and wanted to know where the money was going.

"He (Miller) had explained that they were, I guess, for her personal use," Southard said.

Miller said the money had gone for graham crackers, fish-fry tickets, clothing, charitable donations and other items, Southard testified.

Southard said Miller also told her the woman gave him cash "for helping her over the past 10 years."

Martin said Miller admitted writing the checks for cash but claimed half were for the woman's personal use, and half were for services he provided.

Miller led Martin to believe he had visited the woman personally and gotten permission to write the checks, but that did not match with what workers in the nursing home said, Martin testified Tuesday.

"There was no recollection of him recently visiting [the victim] for quite some time," Martin said.

Miller also characterized more than $22,000 in checks to his funeral home as "gifts" the woman meant for him to use for operating expenses, Martin testified.

Based on information from the woman's doctor and a conversation with her in July, Martin said he did not believe she was competent to authorize such gifts.

Kamp ordered Miller bound over for arraignment at 9 a.m. March 14.

Miller has served as Perry County coroner since 1995.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Perryville, MO