Warrant Charges Vernon Woman With Isolating, Then Systematically Ripping Off Elderly, Disabled Neighbor

VERNON, CT — A Vernon woman with a long list of criminal transgressions is accused of systematically ripping off a disabled, elderly woman to the tune of thousands of dollars and causing the woman's mortgage to fall into arrears, a warrant shows.

A warrant was served to 37-year-old Chantelle Kellner on July 9, charging her with a single count of second-degree larceny and 17 counts of second-degree forgery via a deed or contract, police records show.

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She is currently released on a $10,000 bond with a court date of Aug. 25 in Rockville, judicial system records show.

According to a warrant, the investigation into the ripoff scheme began in March of 2025, when a neighbor of the elderly woman, who had obtained power of attorney over her affairs, went to the Vernon police department about suspected fraud.

That investigation led to probable cause that Kellner, who was living at the woman's home in Vernon in an in-law suite, had clandestinely taken control of the woman's finances to support a drug habit, according to a warrant.

The in-law suite was also the subject of an East Central Narcotics Task Force probe into distribution, according to a warrant.

She had also been the subject of an elder abuse complaint with the condition of the woman's home deemed to be "deplorable," and medical care being withheld from the woman and leaving her without a phone, according to a warrant. She is currently on probation after a conviction on an elderly abuse charge, judicial system records show.

With the woman essentially isolated, two accounts were drained of about $57,000, according to a warrant.

Kellner is accused of cashing the woman's annuity checks under fraudulent means from 2018 to 2025, according to a warrant.

The neighbor discovered warning notices that the woman's mortgage fell behind on payments. Even after the woman sold the home and moved into an assisted living facility, Kellner was discovered squatting there, according to a warrant.

A forged co-signed car loan was also discovered, according to a warrant.

According to a warrant, Kellner has a laundry list of past crimes that includes not only elderly abuse, but charges for drug possession, risk of injury to a child, robbery and engaging police in a pursuit.

Several examples are floating in police records:

In 2012, police records show, she was accused of going to a drug deal with an 8-month-old child in the car.

The following year, an officer on routine patrol was checking on the parking lot of the then-Motel 6 in Vernon and located Kellner and another woman with cocaine, police records show.

In July 2018, three children who had been declared missing showed up in a car being driven by Kellner, who who registered more than twice the legal limit with them unrestrained.