Former disability worker with history of financial exploitation charged in $16K case.
Buffy Jo Bathke / Fillmore County Jail
(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester woman with a history of misusing vulnerable adults’ money faces new financial exploitation charges.
Buffy Jo Bathke, formerly of Preston, was previously charged with financially exploiting three of her clients when she worked at Maple Leaf Services.
Bathke was accused of taking nearly $10,000 out of the three clients’ accounts by writing and endorsing checks for assorted goods and services, then spending the money on herself.
According to new documents filed in 2024, Bathke is now accused of new theft-by swindle and financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult charges after allegedly stealing more than $16,000 from a former client over about six years.
Court documents allege that in August of 2021, the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center alleged that Bathke was misusing a vulnerable adult’s money.
Bathke became the vulnerable adult’s guardian about four years into providing disability services, according to court records, and stopped providing services through Maple Leaf at that time.
According to court documents, law enforcement compared 2015-2017, when the adult had a different guardian, to 2017-2021, when Bathke had access to the accounts.
“Once Bathke took over, the frequency of spending from Victim’s account increased significantly. Victim’s account was frequently overdrawn, there were multiple unexplained ATM withdrawals, and the average account balance decreased significantly,” court documents read.
Court documents claim that Bathke allegedly purchased a new cell phone using the victim’s account, paid for cell phone, cable, and internet service from the victim’s account, and wrote checks for cash withdrawals in amounts up to $900.
A debit card the victim did not recognize was also used to pay for a cruise in La Crosse, a visit in Wisconsin Dells, and multiple grocery trips, according to court records.
Bank staff informed the victim and family that there had also been a total of $667 in overdraft fees charged over the past year, and two cash checks removed the entirety of the victim’s COVID-19 stimulus check from the account shortly after it was deposited.
An investigator who spoke with Bathke pointed out suspicious transactions in 2021, and “Bathke acknowledged that things did not look good for her,” according to court documents.
“Once (the investigator) told Bathke that the phone number listed on Victim’s Verizon account is the one that (the investigator) was calling Bathke on, Bathke stated she was not comfortable speaking … any longer and ended the phone call,” court documents continue.
Court documents allege that Bathke made $16,511 in fraudulent purchases.
Bathke made her initial appearance in Fillmore County Court Oct. 14, and is scheduled to appear for an omnibus hearing Nov. 25.