A Meeker County grill and pub owner has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $219,000 from her vulnerable widowed mother in a long string of thefts that forced the elderly woman's eviction from an adult care facility for failure to pay rent.

Ann M. Zillmer, 56, of Litchfield, entered an Alford plea Wednesday to two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. The plea means that Zillmer acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction but she makes no admission of guilt.

While each count calls for a prison term of up to 20 years, the defense and prosecution have agreed to request to have Zillmer instead serve five years' probation and make restitution. Sentencing is scheduled for May 13 before Meeker County District Judge Michael Thompson.

Zillmer was charged in September with taking $185,603 from her mother, Erma Marking, over more than three years and transferring it to the bank account for the restaurant, the Blue Moose in Darwin. She also stole $34,183 from her mother and paid off a personal loan, the charges added.

In February 2015, Zillmer's mother was evicted from an adult care facility in Winsted for failing to pay rent and care expenses, the complaint read. Marking was described in court documents as a "vulnerable adult" with physical and mental difficulties.

A county investigator went to the restaurant on St. Patrick's Day 2015 and observed that the business "was not doing well financially," the complaint continued. Zillmer nodded her head in agreement and admitted to the illegal transfers.

Two months after being evicted, Marking died at age 91 in a dementia care residence in Dassel. Marking's newspaper obituary noted that she raised Ann and a son on a farm outside Dassel. She worked for 16 years at 3M in Hutchinson when not raising chickens and selling eggs to friends and neighbors.

"She loved spending time with her family and took loving care" of her four grandchildren, two of whom were Zillmer's children, the obituary read. "She enjoyed sewing, embroidery, crocheting, and baking chocolate chip cookies for her grandchildren," the notice continued.

Zillmer was granted power of attorney authority over her mother's finances in 2007, but she was not authorized to receive transfers from Marking's accounts.

A telephone message was left with Zillmer's attorney seeking comment about the plea.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482