Man convicted of bilking elderly woman out of $1.5 million

A White Center businessman who gradually bilked an elderly woman out of her $1.5 million estate was found guilty Wednesday of one count of first-degree theft.

Jurors in King County Superior Court deliberated for about 2 ½ hours before returning the verdict against Tyrone Dash. Dash faces a standard range of up to 90 days in jail, said King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Ivan Orton.

But, Orton added, Superior Court Judge Michael J. Fox can seek an exceptional sentence because Dash was found guilty of two aggravating offenses: committing a crime against a vulnerable victim and committing a major economic offense.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 30.

The trial had lasted for about a week.

Frances Joy Taylor, an elderly widow with Alzheimer's disease, went bankrupt after turning her financial affairs over to Dash, 60, according to King County prosecutors. She had to sell her home in bankruptcy proceedings, and spent the last months of her life in an adult family home in Lake Forest Park.

Taylor died in February at 97.

Dash took more than $600,000 of Taylor's money for his own benefit, tapping into her bank accounts, mortgaging her assets, selling off investments and properties, and using her credit cards "until she had nothing left to take," charging papers said.

Prosecutors charged Dash with one count of felony theft, treating his handling of Taylor's finances as one continuous act of theft spanning five years.

The Seattle Times chronicled Taylor's financial collapse in 2007, and raised questions about Dash's role, as well as that of financial institutions that profited from Taylor's financial and physical decline.

In earlier interviews with The Times, Dash said he earned the money he took from Taylor. He claimed Taylor gave him permission to withdraw cash and rack up credit-card debt as compensation for his services.

The hefty amounts reflected the all-encompassing role he played in the Seattle woman's life as he went from business consultant to personal representative overseeing such things as doctor appointments and financial negotiations, he said.

Dash knew Taylor had a history of dementia, and he took advantage of her confusion and memory lapses to enrich himself, according to the charging papers.

During his five-year association with Taylor, Dash allegedly obtained more than $150,000 in cash from ATMs and credit-card advances, and charged more than $200,000 on the cards, according to the charging papers.

To obtain the funds, Dash mortgaged and then sold two apartment buildings Taylor owned, cashed in a life-insurance policy, liquidated a valuable stamp collection, and mortgaged her house with loans she never stood a chance of repaying, prosecutors alleged.

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.