September 19, 2008
Media Contact: Sandi Copes
Phone: (850) 245-0150
Ohio Man Arrested After Fleeing Florida to Evade Elder Exploitation Charges
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that an Ohio man has been re-arrested on charges that he exploited his disabled and now deceased grandmother by stealing more than $23,000 from her. Jason M. Schnegg was arrested by the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force and the Columbus, Ohio Police Department on a warrant from the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
Schnegg, 34, was first arrested in Hillsborough County in 2004 for stealing money from his grandmother’s account. Investigators with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit determined Schnegg was responsible for his grandmother’s financial affairs, as she suffered from Parkinson’s disease and dementia. He used this position of trust to steal the victim’s social security funds and pension checks for his own personal use and also failed to pay a balance of $83,000 to the nursing home where she lived.
After his arrest in 2004, he was charged with the exploitation of an elderly person, but he failed to appear for trial and fled to Ohio. A warrant was issued for his failure to appear, which carries a second-degree felony charge. When extradited, he also faces the original charge and if convicted on both, could face up to 20 years in prison as well as up to $15,000 in fines. His extradition from the state of Ohio is pending judicial action in that state. The case will be prosecuted by the State Attorney for the Thirteenth Circuit, Hillsborough County. His booking photograph from 2004 is available online from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.