Over 1,600 charges filed against woman accused of stealing more than $600K from dementia patient

More than 1,600 felony charges were filed Thursday against a woman accused of stealing or misusing more than $600,000 of an elderly dementia patient’s money.

Lisa Costolo, 58, is charged in the crime, according to Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele.

“They use a scale for dementia from one to 15. One is the most severe. She was a four. She wasn’t able to care for herself and she was not cognizant of what was going on,” Aubele said, explaining the victim’s condition.

According to the Pennsylvania State Police, the victim and Costolo were friends and neighbors, and the victim signed over power of attorney to Costolo in 2015.

The victim became a full-time resident at Uniontown Health and Rehab in 2018.

In 2020, police say Costolo told the care home she could no longer afford the monthly payments and needed to apply for Medicaid.

The Medicaid evaluation led the staff at Uniontown Health and Rehab to call police.

“When she became ill, suffered from severe dementia, she went into this personal care home, and it was at that time that the care home realized she had no funds left,” Aubele said.

A 2021 forensic audit of the victim’s accounts from 2015 to 2020 revealed Costolo allegedly made $254,000 in ATM withdrawals, paper check withdrawals of $307,000, and $130,000 in debit card transactions, totaling $691,000.

“The defendant and her family were essentially using this money as a paycheck, buying very lavish things, basically living off her income, to the point where they couldn’t afford to pay for this care home, and it was because of the Medicaid evaluation that the funds were discovered,” Aubele said.

The victim passed away in 2021 at the age of 89.

Costolo was arraigned Thursday and released on $200,000 unsecured bail.

She’s due back in court on August 14.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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