MONROE - A man with an apparent history of swindling vulnerable people out of large sums of money faces charges in Green County Circuit Court that he conned an elderly rural Monroe woman suffering from dementia.
Cloyde Anderson Kyle, 48, Guthrie, Oklahoma, was charged Dec. 20 with three Class H felony counts of theft by false representation. A warrant is issued for his arrest. Each Class H felony count carries a maximum prison sentence of six years.
An investigation into the case began Oct. 31 when an employee at First National Bank in Monroe notified police of possible fraud involving a check, according to the criminal complaint.
Kyle was arrested the same day for warrants in at least three other states and extradited to Texas. He was wanted in Dallas, Texas, for exploitation of the elderly and in Lafayette, Louisiana for "theft of assets of an aged person over $25,000," in addition to a list of charges in Boulder County, Colorado, including embezzlement, home repair fraud, running a "con game" and obtaining money under false pretenses.
Now he faces similar charges in Wisconsin.
According to Green County court records, Kyle offered to do roofing work and other home repairs for an 86-year-old Town of Jordan resident who lives by herself on County Y northwest of Monroe.
She agreed, writing him a $100 check on Oct. 11, a $4,800 check on Oct. 20 and a $3,800 check on Oct. 31. The last check raised a red flag at First National Bank.
It's unclear how Kyle found the woman or why he approached her. He refused to speak with police, and she has short-term memory loss related to dementia.
When police presented her with photos of the checks and of Kyle, she said she didn't recognize him and had no recollection of writing the checks.
She started crying and wondered aloud, "Boy, am I losing my mind?" She told the investigator she'd been meticulous with bills her whole life and had worked as a bookkeeper.
"I can't believe this," she said. "How can I be so stupid?"
Her daughter told police she calls her mother daily, but was out of state for three weeks and had not been to her house during the period when the checks were written to Kyle. The daughter said her mother had never mentioned Kyle or that she was paying someone to do work on her house.
The daughter told police her mother lives "off the grid" - with a rotary phone, no cellphone and no computer - and is isolated by herself at her home except for a weekly trip to Behring Senior Center in Monroe to play cards.
The daughter said she often called her mother "to tell her what day it is" and that "if she were to call her mother in the morning to remind her of something in the evening, she would not remember," according to an investigator's report.
There is no evidence that Kyle ever performed repairs for the 86-year-old. An inspection showed someone "might have spray-painted the chimneys but no other work had been done."
Police impounded Kyle's truck and found, among other things, notebooks with names, addresses, phone numbers and notes, as well as a clear glass smoking device used for smoking methamphetamine.
A 2010 Denver Post article indicates Kyle was wanted in connection to a tree-trimming company under police investigation for multiple cases of fraud, including a case in which a 93-year-old woman was pressured into writing a check for $2,200 to have four to six small branches cut off a tree in her yard. She told police she paid for the work only because she was scared of what would happen if she didn't pay.
Cloyde Anderson Kyle, 48, Guthrie, Oklahoma, was charged Dec. 20 with three Class H felony counts of theft by false representation. A warrant is issued for his arrest. Each Class H felony count carries a maximum prison sentence of six years.
An investigation into the case began Oct. 31 when an employee at First National Bank in Monroe notified police of possible fraud involving a check, according to the criminal complaint.
Kyle was arrested the same day for warrants in at least three other states and extradited to Texas. He was wanted in Dallas, Texas, for exploitation of the elderly and in Lafayette, Louisiana for "theft of assets of an aged person over $25,000," in addition to a list of charges in Boulder County, Colorado, including embezzlement, home repair fraud, running a "con game" and obtaining money under false pretenses.
Now he faces similar charges in Wisconsin.
According to Green County court records, Kyle offered to do roofing work and other home repairs for an 86-year-old Town of Jordan resident who lives by herself on County Y northwest of Monroe.
She agreed, writing him a $100 check on Oct. 11, a $4,800 check on Oct. 20 and a $3,800 check on Oct. 31. The last check raised a red flag at First National Bank.
It's unclear how Kyle found the woman or why he approached her. He refused to speak with police, and she has short-term memory loss related to dementia.
When police presented her with photos of the checks and of Kyle, she said she didn't recognize him and had no recollection of writing the checks.
She started crying and wondered aloud, "Boy, am I losing my mind?" She told the investigator she'd been meticulous with bills her whole life and had worked as a bookkeeper.
"I can't believe this," she said. "How can I be so stupid?"
Her daughter told police she calls her mother daily, but was out of state for three weeks and had not been to her house during the period when the checks were written to Kyle. The daughter said her mother had never mentioned Kyle or that she was paying someone to do work on her house.
The daughter told police her mother lives "off the grid" - with a rotary phone, no cellphone and no computer - and is isolated by herself at her home except for a weekly trip to Behring Senior Center in Monroe to play cards.
The daughter said she often called her mother "to tell her what day it is" and that "if she were to call her mother in the morning to remind her of something in the evening, she would not remember," according to an investigator's report.
There is no evidence that Kyle ever performed repairs for the 86-year-old. An inspection showed someone "might have spray-painted the chimneys but no other work had been done."
Police impounded Kyle's truck and found, among other things, notebooks with names, addresses, phone numbers and notes, as well as a clear glass smoking device used for smoking methamphetamine.
A 2010 Denver Post article indicates Kyle was wanted in connection to a tree-trimming company under police investigation for multiple cases of fraud, including a case in which a 93-year-old woman was pressured into writing a check for $2,200 to have four to six small branches cut off a tree in her yard. She told police she paid for the work only because she was scared of what would happen if she didn't pay.