Joseph Barlow said that after he gained power of attorney for the woman, a distant relative, he took $513,766 from her account and used the money to open a funeral home.
Joseph Barlow HIGHTSTOWN — A Hightstown funeral home owner pleaded guilty in Superior Court this morning to taking approximately $750,000 from a 96-year-old woman over two years.
Joseph Barlow, 69, said that after he gained power of attorney for the woman, a distant relative, he took the money from her account and put the funds in his personal account, which he used to start his funeral home business.
Barlow pleaded guilty to a second-degree charge of misappropriation of entrusted funds. Judge Thomas Brown and the attorneys in the case tentatively agreed that Barlow will serve a five year suspended sentence with 10 days in the Mercer County Correction Center, which Brown said he could serve only on the weekends.
Barlow will also have to repay the woman the money he took, starting with $50,000 when he appears for sentencing in July. He will be put on a payment plan to refund her $70,000 a year until she is fully reimbursed.
In 2010, Barlow was authorized to make secure investments for the woman, but instead put the funds toward starting his funeral home business.
“You expected that that investment would be successful?” asked Barlow’s attorney Hal Haveson.
“Yes,” Barlow replied.
But because it was a budding business, Barlow had no way of knowing that the business would be a success, making it an illegal use of the woman’s money, Haveson said.
Haveson said Barlow’s business has been successful and his client intends to use the profits to repay the woman.
“He always planned and intended for (the woman) to have money from the funeral home,” Haveson said.
Barlow’s guilty plea came on the third day of the trial as the woman was set to take the witness stand.
“It has been an extremely difficult year for all of us,” Barlow said, addressing the victim and her family in court.
Barlow took the money from the woman over a period of two years, writing and endorsing four checks and closing out the victim’s life insurance policy.
Barlow turned himself into Hightstown police in June.
Assistant Prosecutor James Scott said the woman is just happy to be getting the money returned to her.
“Convicting him and sending him to state prison, she would have never gotten back that money,” Scott said.
But he said the state wanted Barlow to serve some time in jail for the sake of the woman’s dignity.
Scott thanked Detective Michele Russell, from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office's economic crime unit, and Detective Benjamin Miller of the Hightstown police, who investigated the theft.
This post has been updated to reflect new information about the amount of money stolen from the victim.
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