Woman found guilty of stealing from mother’s estste
A Fayette County jury deliberated for an hour Thursday before finding a West Virginia woman guilty of pilfering her siblings’ personal belongings from their late mother’s home.
Marlene R. Wesolowsky, 49, of Morgantown was convicted of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, which is a felony. As executrix for the estate of her mother, Rosemary Mehall, who died in January 2004, Wesolowsky was responsible for dividing assets among six siblings.
Those six siblings testified they were not only refused their shares of the total estate, but more than $150,000 worth of personal property stored in their childhood home was also never found.
Wesolowsky’s sister Ralene DeBord of Wexford told the jury she was shocked to find their mother’s home in Hopwood completely empty when she made a visit a few years after her mother died.
“It was like the Grinch who stole Christmas,” DeBord testified. “You come in and everything you’re expecting to be there is gone.”
The missing items included collectible dolls DeBord said were kept in a curio cabinet for display in Mehall’s home.
Michael Mehall of Scottdale, who is Wesolowsky’s half-brother, testified previously that his prized baseball card collection that he started when he was about 5 years old was also inexplicably gone. He listed scores of individual cards worth thousands of dollars, including a 1952 Eddie Matthews he estimated to be worth $10,000.
According to Michael Mehall, Wesolowsky threatened to burn the cards after she learned her siblings hired an attorney to pursue a civil complaint to recover missing assets.
Ruth Johnston, who told the jury she cleaned Rosemary Mehall’s house weekly for about 20 years, testified that the baseball cards had been moved from the house to the garage before Rosemary Mehall died. Johnston did not know where the cards went from there, she said.
Wesolowsky testified she didn’t know what happened to the baseball cards either. She told the jury she had no idea they were even in the house. She said she told Michael Mehall when he asked about the cards in 2007, “I can’t give you something that’s not physically here.”
As for the doll collection, Wesolowsky testified she divided the dolls between herself and DeBord. “I gave her hers, and I kept mine,” she said.
Wesolowsky explained to the jury that she took the contested knife collection to her attorney’s office for safe keeping, that she and her step sister Doreen Mahoney worked together to divide the coin collections among the six heirs, and that she never knew her step brother Ernie Mehall had a baseball bat and ball signed by Roberto Clemente, which he testified previously was kept under the bed in his childhood bedroom.
Wesolowsky testified she knew nothing of the mink coat her siblings told the jury they saw their mother wear to Christmas mass every year, nor was she aware of any jewelry being found in Rosemary Mehall’s home other than some costume pieces.
In his closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Douglas Sepic called it strange that there was no explanation as to where the items went, and that Wesolowsky was unaware that some of them even existed.
“The defendant didn’t lose one item,” Sepic pointed out. “She didn’t lose one piece of her childhood, property-wise.”
After the verdict, Michael Mehall expressed relief.
He said, “It’s been a long, torturous process, but finally I think we got justice.”
While the verdict did give the family some relief,they pointed out that the items, which held sentimental value for them, were still missing.
They also reflected on the consequences for Wesolowsky, who could lose her teaching job over a felony conviction.
“Even though she has put us through hell, still, after everything she’s done, she’s still our sister,” Michael Mehall said.
The family thanked Sepic and state police Master Trooper John Marshall, the investigating officer in the case, for all their hard work and the outstanding job they did.
Wesolowsky will be sentenced before Judge Nancy Vernon May 8 at 1:15 pm.