'I want to fight': OKC caretaker pleads guilty to stealing $20k from elderly woman

A metro-based non-licensed caretaker has pleaded guilty to robbing a woman in her 80s out of nearly $20,000.

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)- A metro-based non-licensed caretaker has pleaded guilty to robbing a woman in her 80s out of nearly $20,000.

News 4 first aired Alice Dragoo's story in October of 2022.

Dragoo told KFOR then that now-41-year-old Joseph Wisner was "hired" to help her around the house and drive her to and from errands around the city. He was to help her with daily activities in exchange for free living.

Dragoo said while they were out running errands in late 2021, she gave Wisner her debit card to make a one-time withdrawal from her International Bank of Commerce (IBC) account.

“But then I got a bank statement and he had been taking my bank card and drawing up to 3 to $500 a night out of my checking account, my savings, the only thing I had left pushing for this all these last few years,” previously explained Dragoo.

Dragoo said she hardly ever checks her bank statement, “but that’s the way it was. I didn’t catch in time. My error.”

On top of the $11,000 in cash that was allegedly stolen, Dragoo said she lost about $12,000 in family memories and tools.

"I try to think positive. But I'm broke. It takes everything I have on social security to maintain my home," said Dragoo in October of 2022.

Now in April of 2024, she said she is still in the same financial situation.

"I'm still out. I don't have any money. I have no cushion," stated Dragoo. "I have to live on less than $100 a month for my expenses because everything else goes out for bills. It costs money to rent a house. And I want to live in my own home."

Wisner pleaded guilty to a felony count of 'Exploitation of Elderly Person' and another for 'Possession Of A Firearm While on Probation.'

Wisner received two 10 year suspended sentences that will run concurrently. He is currently spending 30 days under the supervision of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in a Norman facility. Based on court records, he could be released this month.

Additionally, he is court mandated to pay restitution to Dragoo and two other entities.

Court documents reveal Wisner owes Dragoo $19,526.45.

The court has ordered Wisner pay $163/month until a total of $20,918.45 is paid off which means Dragoo will not see the total of what she's owed until at least 2034.

However, Dragoo said a local IBC manager told her as long as she could prove Wisner was guilty, the bank's insurance would reimburse her what she lost.

When she went back to the bank, Dragoo said it was a different story.

"They said, since I gave him my PIN number once, that they weren't responsible. 'Well, we did that internal investigation and we are not going to pay you,'" stated Dragoo.

News 4 reached out to Dragoo’s specific IBC branch in October, but the representative said she had never heard about the situation and took our information down to pass it along to someone else.

We never received a call back.

Dragoo said she is now filing a complaint with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in hopes of getting a better outcome.

"I want to fight. It's all I got left to do. I can't get any broker," said Dragoo. "I just want what's right and fair. It's like I was trying to rob them. I'm not trying to rob them. I just want what's honorable and fair, and they're going to get their money back."

As for Wisner pleading guilty, Dragoo said she does feel slight justice.

"He did apologize to me the last day in court. He said, 'I love you and I'm so sorry.' 'Straighten up and do right.' That's all I could say. He's not supposed to bother me, and he never will. But he had tears in his eyes, so I know he really meant it. He's got to own up to what he did. Now, he's going to have to pay for it. And that's his problem. I can't worry about," said Dragoo.

Dragoo wants to warn others about sharing bank information, even with people seemingly trustworthy.

"I hate to live that way. I like to like people for what I see. But now I'm scared to even talk to someone I don't know," said Dragoo.