A Mazeppa woman involved in a case of financial exploitation has been granted a stay of adjudication, effectively delaying her conviction. Accused of withdrawing over $178,000 from a vulnerable adult’s bank account, Daphne Jo Castillo, aged 59, faced ten felony charges of financial exploitation and one count of issuing a dishonored check. In February, she pleaded guilty to a single count of financial exploitation.
During a sentencing hearing held on Monday, April 21, District Court Judge Pamela King decided to issue a stay of adjudication for the charge Castillo admitted to. As part of her sentencing, Castillo will be on supervised probation for five years. Furthermore, she is mandated to pay a $1,000 fine and $184,000 in restitution to the victim. Additional conditions of her sentence prohibit her from having financial authority over any individual in the future.
In exchange for her guilty plea, the remaining charges against Castillo were dismissed. The case emerged when the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office initiated an investigation on June 7, following a report of potential financial exploitation. The initial complaint involved a woman residing in a memory care facility in northwest Rochester, who had an outstanding balance of nearly $30,000. A $10,500 check linked to her account had been returned due to insufficient funds.
The investigation revealed a pattern of suspicious transactions, including numerous cash withdrawals from the woman’s bank account. Castillo, who had been acting as the woman’s power of attorney since 2014, claimed the withdrawals were for the woman’s benefit. However, Castillo admitted to not keeping receipts and could not account for the funds’ usage. Additionally, she confessed to using some of the money to purchase a truck.
An Olmsted County Adult Protection Social Worker discovered that Castillo began withdrawing funds as far back as 2019. The withdrawals amounted to $16,400 between July and December 2019, $28,000 in 2020, $15,100 in 2021, $12,500 in 2022, $61,700 in 2023, and $44,600 from January through June 2024. The total sum withdrawn over the five-year period exceeded $178,000.