Frank Wilhelm pleaded guilty Monday to exploiting his invalid mother by using her money to buy himself jewelry, clothing and expensive cars.
Prosecutors said Wilhelm stole and squandered nearly $500,000 of his mother’s money, but he remained defiant in court Monday, saying he was pleading guilty only “in the interest of getting all of this over with.”
Wilhelm, 49, a former resident of McHenry and Cary whose last address was in Elgin, said, “I do not admit, even though I am pleading guilty, to being a thief. I did not financially exploit my mother.”
After he pleaded guilty to two counts of financial exploitation of an elderly person, McHenry County Circuit Judge Ward S. Arnold sentenced Wilhelm to four years in prison. That sentence will be served consecutively with a two-year sentence imposed in May after Wilhelm was found guilty on three counts of theft and one count of deceptive practice for cashing checks meant for his mother.
Wilhelm’s case has been before county judges for three years. He was first charged in June 1995 with using his power of attorney to convert stocks and bonds belonging to his mother, Margaret Wilhelm, for his own use.
Wilhelm’s mother, 75, was found to be disabled by a McHenry County judge in June 1995 and not able to care for herself. She now lives in a nursing home.
In August 1995, Wilhelm was charged with writing a $200 check from a joint account he held with his mother even though a court order prohibited him from doing so. And in May 1996, he was charged with cashing three pension checks of $318 each made out to his mother at a currency exchange in Cary.
All told, prosecutors said, Wilhelm stole about $475,000 from his mother. That money, they said, went toward such things as two Cadillacs, custom-made shirts, expensive jewelry and cash gifts to relatives.
“The money tree has died; it was chopped down,” said Assistant State’s Atty. James McAuliff, one of the prosecutors in the case.
“Frank Wilhelm got his hand caught in the cookie jar and can’t accept that his brother turned him in,” added Assistant State’s Atty. Robert Beaderstadt.
Wilhelm’s brother, Robert, had alerted Senior Services Associates Inc. of McHenry County, a senior citizens advocacy group, which brought the case to the state’s attorney’s office.
Robert Wilhelm testified for the state during the May trial.
But during a long monologue on Monday, Frank Wilhelm said he had no hard feelings for his brother, even though he called him a “vicious and cruel individual” for having gone to the authorities.
“I have forgiven my brother for what I am about to pay for,” Wilhelm said. “In the long run, he will be judged as I am being judged but in a higher court than is on this earth.”
This was the second time in six months that Wilhelm has pleaded guilty to charges of financial exploitation of the elderly. He pleaded guilty in February but withdrew the plea two weeks later, saying he wanted to take the case to trial.
