Staff photo / Ed Runyan Jared B. Rodgers, 46, of Struthers, cries next to his attorney, Lynn Maro, as Maro tells Rodgers’ side of the story before Judge Maureen Sweeney sentenced Rodgers to five years of probation. Rogers pleaded guilty earlier to felony theft from a person in a protected class.

YOUNGSTOWN — Family financial disputes can sometimes arise when a parent becomes feeble and one of the children becomes caretaker.

That type of dispute was on full display Monday when Jared B. Rodgers, 46, of Struthers, was sentenced on a conviction of felony theft from a person in a protected class.

He received five years of probation and must serve 30 days of community service each of those five years through volunteering at a public service agency that aids in the care of elderly people. If he fails to abide by the terms of his probation, he could go to prison for up to three years.

Jolene Diego, Rodgers’ sister, was the first to weigh in, saying Jared Rodgers “made a choice to take advantage of our elderly father, who was losing his battle with dementia. He made choices with his family. He made choices. He made a choice to lie to his siblings, his mother and his own children.”

Their father had come back to Ohio in the spring several years ago, and “by May, Jared had completely taken over, refusing me and my sister access to him. That is when I reached out to Adult Protective Services, and Jared’s games began,” she said.

Jared and their father moved to a location that Jared kept secret from his sisters, she said. “Can you imagine not knowing where your father is living and having to meet in a public parking lot just to see your own father?” She said her father was “absolutely filthy,” she said. She requested emergency guardianship in October of that year.

While the hearing was going on in Mahoning County Probate Court, Judge Robert Rusu Jr. “got a phone call from the Boardman Police Department reporting that they found my father walking down the street alone.”

At that point, Jared “uninvolved himself from anything to do with our father,” Diego said. She moved him into a memory care facility.

Pat Fening, assistant prosecutor, told Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that when Jared Rodgers became power of attorney for his father, “there was just egregious spending.” Two vehicles were purchased with cash, registered in Jared’s name. A home was purchased using his father’s life insurance policy, and there were $68,000 in ATM withdrawals, Fening said.

Funds were later put back into the estate, but not “voluntarily,” Fening said. It was ordered by the Mahoning County Probate Court. Fening said money was supposed to go to grandchildren, but “That money is mostly gone.” Fening asked that Jared Rodgers get a prison sentence.

Next up was Lynn Maro, Jared Rodgers’ attorney, who said this case is the “quintessential example” of the idea that “nothing brings out the worst in people like death and money.”

But the issues that led to this family fight began when her client’s father was living elsewhere and went to the hospital after being arrested for drunken driving. The hospital called Jared because he was the person designated for that task. Jared’s father designated Jared as Power of Attorney, Maro said.

Jared had been seeing and talking to his father, and his father “consistently made clear that he did not want to be in a nursing home, no matter what, do not put me in a nursing home,” Maro said.

She said everyone talks about “honoring your parents and what we would do, but you never know what you would do until you are in that situation.” Jared quit his job to care full time for his father, she said. The day his father was found wandering, Jared was in probate court and a neighbor was watching him, but the neighbor “had an emergency and left,” she said.

Jared and his father went to a car dealership, and his father saw a convertible and wanted it, so they bought it and they drove to Galveston, where his father wanted to go. Cars were put in Jared’s name because his father had no driver’s license and no car insurance, so it could not go into his name, Maro said.

She said many things related to his relationship with others in the family caused Jared not to “disclose locations.” Jared “knew that his siblings wanted to put (their father) in a nursing home,” she said. When Maro started to talk about the mental health issues Jared went through after his father died and Jared was charged in this case, Jared cried. Maro said Jared did not benefit personally from “one thing.” The cars and house were returned, Maro said.

When Jared spoke, he said, “I can totally admit I was in over my head, but my intent was to do what my dad wanted. It kills me that he died in that (nursing) home. I should probably have kept better records. I couldn’t foresee anything like this happening.”

Jared said he and his father felt “hunted because he didn’t want to be taken.” Jared said he went through the “emotional strain of watching your father disappear. I was Charley. I was his brother. I wasn’t even his son.”