Amid investigation of elder abuse, son accused of endorsing dead mother’s …

Court records allege that James Owens cashed a $741 government check issued to his mother, three days after she died on Nov. 1.

The man’s mother, Carol F. Brown, 74, had been the victim of severe elder abuse, according to court documents filed earlier.

Emergency responders to her Independence home found her last month after she’d had an apparent stroke. Brown had been left sitting in a reclining chair so long that her legs were fused to the chair and had to be pried from it, the court records said. The documents said personnel at Centerpoint Medical Center reported that they discovered a maggot-infested open wound around Brown’s ankle.

According to court records, Brown’s son told an investigator with the Missouri Division of Senior and Disability Services that he was his mother’s caretaker and had left her in the chair to satisfy her wish to die in her home.

No charges have been filed in connection with Brown’s death. An investigation is continuing by Independence police.

| Mará Rose Williams, mdwilliams@kcstar.com