Detectives with the Bellevue Police Department’s Economic Crimes Unit, together with the Bellevue SWAT team, arrested a Lynnwood man this week who is accused of fraud and exploiting vulnerable adults.

The 53-year-old man allegedly put himself in a position to manage the finances and care for his 49-year-old mentally disabled cousin, 95-year-old aunt and 92-year-old uncle. The suspect allegedly abused his position of trust by using the victims’ existing financial accounts and identity information to obtain numerous credit accounts and goods, resulting in a loss of over $90,000 in 10 months.

“The fact that these vulnerable victims that were allegedly exploited were members of the suspect’s own family was shocking, and I’m proud that we were able to hold this individual accountable for his actions. One of our most important duties as law enforcement Officers is to stand up and fight for the vulnerable, and we did just that in this case,” Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett said of the case.

One of the victim’s sons was auditing the accounts of the victim and noticed abnormalities, and contacted the Bellevue Police, according to police spokesperson Seth Tyler. They served a search warrant on the suspect’s residence on Dec. 9.

Although the suspect lives in Lynnwood, the case fell in the Bellevue Police’s terrain because the victims live in Bellevue.

“As long as the victim is a Bellevue resident, we will arrest the suspect wherever he or she resides, Bellevue or not. For example, our special enforcement team routinely arrests individuals accused of committing Bellevue burglaries in outside jurisdictions,” Tyler told the Reporter.

The suspect is expected to be charged on Dec. 11 in King County Superior Court with two counts of identity theft in the first degree, one count of identity theft in the second degree and one count of theft in the second degree, all of which are felonies.