Apr. 7—GRAND FORKS — A Grand Forks man who pleaded guilty to Class A felony theft Monday, April 7, will serve no additional jail time for stealing more than $100,000 from an elderly woman.
David Lee Cooper, 61, gave an Alford plea to the crime, meaning he maintains his innocence but acknowledges there is sufficient evidence for a likely guilty conviction, if he took the matter to trial.
Cooper was originally scheduled to stand trial Tuesday, April 8, but changed his plea during a Monday morning status conference.
Two individuals reported Cooper in June 2023 for taking financial advantage of their 81-year-old mother, according to a probable cause statement filed in the case.
The children said that, after recently being appointed as their mother’s guardians, they reviewed her bank account and discovered numerous checks had been written to Cooper between 2021 and 2023, totaling $116,450, the statement said.
When law enforcement asked the woman if she knew how much money Cooper borrowed from her, she said she did not know. She seemed confused and struggled to answer their questions, according to the statement.
In December 2023, Cooper told law enforcement he borrowed a large amount of money from the woman over a yearslong period to purchase sports cards as an investment. He denied any knowledge of a decline in the woman’s cognitive abilities.
Cooper said he used some of the money to help his daughter and travel to sporting card shows. Later, he said he’d given the sports cards to someone else to sell, but the buyer said he’d only paid Cooper $15,000 for them, the statement said.
A criminal case was filed in January 2024.
Though the Class A felony has a maximum 20-year prison sentence, Cooper was granted three years of unsupervised probation and 200 hours of community service as his punishment.
Cooper’s second charge, Class C felony exploitation of an eligible adult who lacks the capacity to consent, was dismissed.
He was sentenced to 360 days in custody with all but two days suspended, which is the amount of time he has already served. Because his sentence is consistent with a misdemeanor, the charge is deemed a misdemeanor by disposition.
Cooper was ordered to pay $116,450 in restitution to the victim, with $100 monthly payments beginning May 1.
This would amount to a total of $3,500 paid during his three years of probation. The criminal judgment filed in Cooper’s case does not specify, but it is likely that the remaining balance after the probationary period will be reduced to a civil matter.