A York County woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for committing financial crimes to buy a home in Wyndam Hills, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Melinda Bixler, 50, reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors last year in which she admitted to committing financial crimes such as bank fraud.
U.S. District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo issued the prison sentence earlier this week, according to court records.
Bixler ran two elder care businesses − Elder Healthcare Solutions, a for-profit company, and Adult Care Advocates, a non-profit company − from a property in the 4000 block of West Market Street in West Manchester Township, according to a news release.
Prosecutors alleged that Bixler bought a $685,000 home in Wyndam Hills with money she obtained through unlawful means, the news release states.
She obtained a mortgage from a bank by submitting multiple false statements, including a forged letter that stated she had paid off the house on West Market Street. She was still making monthly payments on it, the release and court records state.
She also obtained a fraudulent gift letter from a third party for $350,000 to buy the house. Prosecutors alleged that Bixler funneled money to the third party and disguised the true source of the funds, the release states.
For example, Bixler took $78,000 from the bank account of a 94-year-old woman who was living at a nursing home in Lancaster County. Bixler had power of attorney for the woman, the release states.
Bixler agreed to pay a total of $147,882 to three former clients from for the misappropriation of money, the release states. She also agreed to forfeit the West Market Street property and more than $129,350 that remained in the bank account for Adult Care Advocates.
Bixler also agreed to resign her positions with the two elder care businesses.
Her attorney, Chris Ferro, said in an interview last year that his client “has made mistakes and acknowledged that those mistakes are serious and accurately represented in this federal charge. However, it should be clear that most of these mistakes have little or nothing to do with the way she conducted both her nonprofit and for-profit business over the course of many years.”