One suspect in Rochester financial exploitation of adult case enters mental illness/cognitive impairment defense; other pleads guilty

(ABC 6 News) – UPDATE: Colleen Marie Siverling-Keigher, 36, entered a guilty plea to one count of aiding and abetting financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult–uses/manages or takes property for benefit of someone else on Tuesday, Feb. 20, according to Minnesota Court Records Online.

The details of Siverling-Keigher’s plea agreement were not available online Tuesday or Wednesday.

Her sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 14, 2024.

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One suspect in Rochester financial exploitation of adult case enters mental illness

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(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester man filed a notice of intent to present a mental illness or cognitive impairment argument at his financial exploitation trial this summer.

Colleen Marie Siverling-Keigher, 36, and Corey Jonathon Keigher, 33, each face two charges of aiding and abetting financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult–uses/manages or takes property for benefit of someone else.

Corey Keigher’s defense requested a Rule 20 evaluation Monday, Feb. 12, which will include an expert’s opinion “as to whether, because of mental illness or cognitive impairment, the defendant, at the time of committing the alleged criminal act, was laboring under such a defect of reason as not to know the nature of the act or that it was wrong.”

Keigher’s pretrial hearing is scheduled for July 19, followed by a jury trial Aug. 12.

A Rule 20 hearing had not been scheduled by Monday, Feb. 19.

The pair is accused of using Siverling-Keigher’s position as power of attorney for an 81-year-old man in a memory care facility to cash checks and make ATM withdrawals for their own benefit.

According to court documents, Siverling-Keigher and Keigher allegedly wrote themselves checks totaling $66,025.25 between Jan.1 and June 30, 2021, and another $59,000 between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, totaling just over $125,000.

They were officially charged in December of 2022.

Siverling-Keigher is appeared to appear in court Tuesday, Feb. 20, for the beginning of her own jury trial.