Sewickley Heights Woman Pleads In $1 Million Theft Case

A woman has pleaded no contest to charges that she tricked her parents into signing over control of their estate to her.

Kimberly Gerard, 57, of Hartle Road, was arrested by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office two years ago after an investigation determined she and her husband, Christopher Gerard, 60, of Turkey Foot Road, , had taken control of her parents’ home and savings and then attempted to use more than $1 million in cash and equity for their personal use.

Appearing Wednesday before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill Rangos, Gerard pleaded no contest to more than two dozen charges, including 16 counts of felony theft, according to the district attorney’s office.

According to court records, Kimberly Gerard deceived her parents, Olga and Wilhelm Ostern, into signing a power-of-attorney agreement on July 3, 2007.

At the time, Olga Ostern, then 84, was hospitalized with a fractured pelvis she suffered in a fall. Wilhelm Ostern, then 86, suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

Wilhelm Ostern, a retired chief financial officer with Bayer Corp., went with his daughter to the bank to sign paperwork. Bank employee Doug Campbell testified to overseeing the process and said he didn't know about Wilhelm's condition. 

Olga Ostern had suffered a stroke while hospitalized and signed a power of attorney document, but didn’t remember putting her daughter’s name on the Osterns' Mellon Bank account or giving her legal power to pay the bills while her mother was hospitalized. Christopher Gerard sat in on the process, court records show.  

The deed on the Osterns' home on Hartle Road, assessed at $429,000, was transferred into Kimberly and Christopher Gerard's names for $1.

Ostern testified during a March 2009 preliminary hearing in the courtroom of Robert Ford, that she never knew about the transaction.

As part of the plea, Gerard agreed to transfer her mother's home back to her mother in order to satisfy restitution on the case.  Following the plea, Rangos sentenced Gerard to three years of probation.

The case against Christopher Gerard, who faces a single count of criminal conspiracy, was postponed. He is expected to be accepted in the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, according to the district attorney’s office.