City council candidate charged with theft from elderly mother vows to stay in race
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SEATTLE -- Kenneth Sharp, former Kent Chamber of Commerce president and current candidate for the Kent City Council has been charged with seven counts of first-degree theft. Sharp has been accused of bilking his 93-year-old mother of nearly $300,000, court documents allege.
Sharp has said he will not drop out of the city council race. He is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 29.
In April, one of Helen Sharp's daughters and Kenneth's sisters contacted Federal Way police to report that her brother had stolen their mother's assets.
At the time, Kenneth had power of attorney for his mother's finances, but Kenneth's sister said that when her mother moved into an assisted-living facility after suffering a stroke, she owned her Tacoma home "free and clear."She had liquid assets estimated at $220,000 and living expenses of $5,000 per month, which were paid by Kenneth from his mother's checking account, court documents said.
But Kenneth's sister said that in August 2010, he had their mother signed papers for a reverse mortgage on her home, along with another power of attorney document that granted Kenneth financial authority over the home.
Kenneth and his wife were living in the home at the time the reverse mortgage was initiated, but his mother told his sister that Kenneth had asked her to get a loan to fix up the home and there was no mention of a reverse mortgage. In December 2011, the family began preparing the house for sale. In February 2012, Kenneth's sisters and brother-in-law came across the reverse mortgage papers while cleaning the home. They then met with an attorney and in September provided police with a notarized statement from Helen that she had not authorized the reverse mortgage.
In October 2012, a notice was sent to Helen that she had defaulted on the reverse mortgage for not adhering to its terms that stipulated she reside in the home, documents allege. The amount of the reverse mortgage was listed as $472,474.97.
When police reviewed Kenneth's bank records, they determined that he had transferred $200,000 into his account after the reverse mortgage was taken on Helen's home. Police also found a number of other transfers from Helen's account into Kenneth's, totaling $297,500.
Court documents state that Kenneth was struggling with his business and that he told his siblings and other family members that he intended to pay back the funds.