Section 32.53 addresses financial exploitation of vulnerable people. In Harris County these cases almost always arise inside a family, and they frequently begin as a dispute among siblings about how a parent's money was handled.
What the Statute Prohibits
A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes the exploitation of a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.
"Exploitation" means the illegal or improper use of a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual, or of the resources of such a person, for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or gain.
An offense under this section is a third-degree felony — 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Who Is Protected
- Child — a person younger than 18 (as defined for these offenses).
- Elderly individual — a person 65 years of age or older.
- Disabled individual — a person with a substantial impairment, including a mental, physical, or developmental condition, that substantially impairs the person's ability to protect themselves from harm or to provide food, shelter, or medical care for themselves.
How These Cases Begin
Typically with an Adult Protective Services referral, a bank's suspicious activity report, or a complaint from another family member. By the time the accused learns of the investigation, financial records have usually been subpoenaed and interviews conducted. The accused is frequently the family member who was doing the most caregiving.
Defenses
Lawful authority. A valid power of attorney, a properly established joint account, a trusteeship, or a guardianship confers authority. Use within that authority is not "illegal or improper."
Capacity and consent. A competent adult may give gifts, lend money, and pay a caregiving relative. Where the elderly person had capacity and authorized the transactions, the exploitation element fails. Capacity is a medical question, and contemporaneous records often establish it.
Benefit to the protected person. Expenditures for the person's own care — home modifications, in-home help, groceries, medications, transportation — are not exploitation even where the accused also benefited incidentally.
Mental state. The statute requires intentional, knowing, or reckless conduct. Poor recordkeeping by an untrained family caregiver is not the same as criminal intent, and forensic accounting frequently shows commingling rather than theft.
Family motive. Where the complaint originated with a sibling in an inheritance dispute, that motive is admissible and often decisive.
Related Offenses
The same conduct is frequently charged alongside theft, Section 32.55 (financial abuse of an elderly individual), Section 32.45 (misapplication of fiduciary property), and injury to an elderly individual under Section 22.04.
Related
- Houston theft attorney · Injury to a child, elderly or disabled
- Section 32.55 — financial abuse of an elderly individual
Charged in Harris County?
Brian Foley is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and a former Harris County Felony Chief Prosecutor; Luis Baez is a former Trial Bureau Chief. Call or text (713) 703-1718 for a free, confidential consultation.