83-year-old grandma duped by kin, investigators claim

Elsie Mascarenas met the Beatles, a number of U.S. presidents, Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable while she worked as a maid and a supervisor of maids at the Brown Palace Hotel.

She worked there 42 years and saved enough money to buy a house in the 5100 block of Decatur Street in 1971.

Now, her children and the Denver District Attorney's Office say that one of her grandsons, Jason Nichols Mascarenas, and his wife, Shannon Nicole Mascarenas, both 28, have swindled the 83-year-old widow out of

Jason Mascarenas, left, and wife Shannon, now rent the home to his grandmother. (Post / Special)

her home.

Jason and Shannon Mascarenas were arrested Feb. 18 and have been charged with theft from an at-risk adult. They declined to comment.

They told an investigator that Elsie, whose husband died in 1979, knew she was giving them the house.

"The title company made sure she knew what she was doing. The title company can't force her to sign anything," Shan non Mascarenas said, according to court documents.

Daniel Chun, an investigator for the DA's office, said that Elsie Mascarenas received no proceeds from the December sale of her house. Now Jason and Shannon are "renting" the home to the grandmother and have tried to evict her twice.

"If the rent is not paid, I'm sorry, grandma has to go," Shannon Mascarenas told investigators.

On Thursday, Elsie Mascarenas said she "feels terrible - I never felt they'd do a thing like this to me. I never did anything to deserve this," she said. "I'm kind to everybody."

There are more than 5,000 reports of elderly or



disabled adults being neglected, exploited or abused in Colorado annually.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Elsie in 1997 co-signed for Jason to purchase a pickup truck. Investigators said he never made payments and it was repossessed.

It was then, investigators say, that Jason and Shannon told Elsie Mascarenas that a lien had been placed on her home. They said that if she allowed them to "put a loan" on the house, they could clear both the debt for the truck and her credit. She then signed documents and later learned that the documents gave Shannon and Jason her home. Since that time, she has been a renter in her house.

Michael Mascarenas, one of Elsie's four children, said the whole affair is upsetting.

"Mom has worked very hard all her life - a real provider, and a kind person who would give you the shirt off her back," he said. "I think greed got thicker than blood."

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3548326

That's horrible and so sad . .

I Love and Adore my elderly Aunt so much, I would never let anything like this happen to her. When I hear stories like this, it makes me sick . . elder abuse is awful!

How terrible! They better hope no one ever treats them that way...

This is trully disgusting. These two pathetic excuses for human beings shouldn`t be allowed to live with the rest of a civilised society. Absusing the elderly is about as low as you can go in my books.

I think the rest of the family is just ticked at these couple because they got the house and are not treating their grandma with respect. As they said, the tittle company can't force her to sign anything. The law is on their side, no matter how disrespectful they are.

quite the story