LEXINGTON — A Lexington man has been charged in federal court with wire fraud after prosecutors say he exploited a trusting relationship with an elderly woman, siphoning more than $300,000 from her accounts over several years while she was suffering from dementia.
Donald Charles Beaty is charged in a single-count federal information filed in the Eastern District of Kentucky alleging wire fraud tied to a scheme that prosecutors say ran from 2018 through late 2023. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert E. Wier, with proceedings referred to U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew A. Stinnett.
According to court documents, the victim — identified only as “Victim 1” — was born in 1935 and lived in Lexington. Prosecutors allege Beaty befriended her around 2018 and gained access to her financial information under the pretense of helping manage and pay her bills…