Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Alton Fitzgerald McLaurin, 48, was arrested and charged with fraud, exploitation of the elderly, and theft over $10,000 after allegedly depositing over $12,000 in Social Security checks made out to his mother and spending about $7,000 on a cruise.
In July, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to Park Meadows (3250 SW 41st Place), where a manager and an Adult Protective Services investigator said they were investigating the theft of a resident’s Social Security checks. They said Park Meadows was removed as the victim’s Social Security payee in October 2023, and staff spent several months filing paperwork and consulting with doctors to get the victim declared mentally and medically competent so the checks could come to the victim again. In June 2024, Social Security began reissuing checks, including a check for $10,684 that included back pay for the missed payments; a second check for $1,346 was sent in July.
However, after Park Meadows realized they had not received the checks, they contacted Social Security and learned that the checks had been delivered to an address the victim shares with her son and then deposited into a USAA bank account. The victim said she did not have a USAA bank account, but her son did.