Connie Ruth Rott waited just weeks after her mother entered the dementia unit at a Northfield nursing home to begin selling the family farm and pocketing the proceeds, authorities allege.

Rott, 56, of Lakeville, was charged Thursday with swindling her 89-year-old mother out of $1.1 million between 2004 and 2007. She allegedly used some of the money to pay for her son's unsuccessful fight against charges he made methamphetamine at the farm outside of Northfield and left taxpayers to pay for her mother's nursing home care.

It appears to be the largest of about 10 financial-exploitation cases the state has prosecuted in the past five years, said Attorney General Lori Swanson, whose office filed the charges.

"We are seeing more of this kind of theft by relatives, partly because there are more seniors who have more money, but maybe also because some families are experiencing financial problems in the current economy," she said.

Increased vigilance by county attorneys apparently is leading to more prosecutions, and that is encouraging police and county adult protection workers to bring more cases, said Mary McGurran, an expert on vulnerable adults with Volunteers of America Minnesota.

Rott faces nine counts of theft and five counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

She could not be reached for comment Thursday. She is to appear Wednesday in Rice County District Court.

Gifts, travel and court costs

By 2007, Rott had sold three parcels of the farm for $1.3 million and used the money "as if it were her own," the complaint said.

The complaint said Rott spent about $359,000 of the money for her mother and the rest for herself, including $115,000 in gifts to her children, $59,000 for her own mortgage and property taxes, and $250,000 for vehicles.

She also allegedly spent more than $15,000 for her son's legal and drug-treatment costs when he was charged and convicted for making methamphetamine at the farm, and about $30,000 to repair farmhouse damage caused by the drug operation.

Rott's mother, identified in court records only by the initials D.S., has lived at Three Links Care Center in Northfield since 2004, a year after Rott became her legal guardian and trustee of a trust for her mother's care. The trust included the farm near Northfield. Rott stopped paying her mother's $4,200-a-month nursing home costs in October 2007, the complaint said, and by last June the home threatened eviction for nonpayment.

When Rott told the nursing home she planned to move her mother from the facility, Rice County Adult Protective Services asked a court to replace Rott with an emergency guardian. The court-appointed guardian received a "hardship waiver" so Medical Assistance, the state-federal health care program for the poor, would pay for the mother's care.

Swanson said her office will try to recover money it says was stolen, but said, "there's usually not much left in these cases."

Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253