Murrieta Couple Charged With Draining 73-Year-Old Mother's Bank Accounts

A Murrieta couple is facing charges after police say they spent more than $200,000 of the wife's mother's money without her consent on mortgage payments, BMW payments, cosmetic surgery and other large transactions.

Brook Bailey, 47, and Anthony Bailey, 35, were both arrested earlier this month after a months-long investigation by Murrieta police detectives, according to court records provided by the Riverside County District Attorney's office.

Between 2006 and 2009, the couple allegedly took out credit cards under Brook's 73-year-old mother's name, records show. Brook's half-brother and mother brought the discrepancies to the attention of Murrieta police in January. In February, a search warrant was obtained by a Murrieta police detective, who went to the couple's Murrieta residence and found invoices totaling more than $30,000. The invoices were paid using a credit card in the mother's name, according to court documents, and were for equipment used in Anthony's business.

The couple voluntary agreed to interview with police, during which they said Brook's mother had verbally agreed to help her pay her mortgage, utility and credit card payments, Murrieta Police Det. Jeff Ullrich wrote in a statement to the courts.

Anthony said his mother-in-law gave them more than $150,000 for a down payment on their house, and that based on conversations he had with Brook, all credit card payments and other transactions were done with consent, Ullrich wrote.

When Ullrich interviewed the mother, he said she admitted to alochol abuse before September 2007, but that she had undergone treatment for it. She denied ever agreeing to opening any new lines of credit between 2006 and the end of 2009 under her name, he wrote. She was aware her daughter was leasing a BMW, but said she herself did not own a BMW after she saw electronic transactions debited from her account to BMW Financial Services.

Other electronic transactions the woman said she did not make included payments to Southern California Edison and Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, which provides service to the couple's Murrieta address but not to the woman's.

"She also said she would never agree to open new credit cards and allow her son-in-law or daughter to use them as much as they wanted," Ullrich wrote.

The couple spent about six days in jail, but were released on $100,000 bail each on April 14. They are scheduled to be arraigned June 9.

Court records also show Anthony, who also goes by Darnell, has been on probation for domestic-violence related charges since 2009.