Santa Barbara – Rosemary Rebekah Baugh, 57, is apparently what is commonly referred to as “a real piece of work,” if allegations contained in the $650,000 felony arrest warrant that brought her into handcuffs earlier today have any merit.
Rosemary Rebekah Baugh
According to Santa Barbara Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Riley Harwood’s report to the media, Baugh has been charged with grand theft, financial elder abuse, and elder neglect based upon evidence generated by an investigation spanning the past eleven months and conducted by SBPD Property Crimes Detective Kristin Shamordola.
It was December 2012 when relatives of the 80 year-old male victim came to visit him and found him “malnourished, filthy, and living in squalor,” Harwood said. Baugh, reportedly a friend of the victim, had accepted cash gifts from him previously, and stepped into the role of primary caretaker when the man’s only local relative died. According to Harwood’s report of Shamordola’s investigation, “following the victim’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and the worsening of his dementia, Baugh took over $650,000 of the victim’s money.” Additional evidence was uncovered detailing the purchase of a mobile home in Baugh’s name, Baugh becoming a co-signer on the victim’s bank accounts, and shopping sprees conducted via QVC and the Home Shopping Network with all products being delivered to Baugh.
Harwood further reported that when the victim’s family caught wind of all this activity, Baugh escorted the victim to the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in January 2013 and summarily married him…only to file for divorce two weeks later with a claim of monthly alimony to the tune of $10,000.
Pursuant to the scope of the evidence and events, Detective Shambordola served the arrest warrant and booked Baugh into Santa Barbara County Jail today, November 27th, with bail at $650,000.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
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