The founder and CEO of Elder Care Direction has been arrested and charged after he allegedly stopped making monthly payments to a client in Harleysville and refused to return their $160,000 account balance, according to police.
David Dempsey, 35, of King of Prussia, has been charged with felony counts of theft by failure to make required dispersal of funds, financial exploitation of an older adult, receiving stolen property, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, and deceptive business practices, along with a misdemeanor count of misapplication of entrusted financial institution property, following an eight-month investigation by the Lower Salford Township Police Department.
In total, Dempsey — who is also a partner of the Gilbertsville-based Uncommon Perspective Group — is facing 26 felony counts. He is currently free on $10,000 unsecured bail.
Investigators were first contacted on Feb. 1 by a woman living within the township who claimed she had entered into a contract with Elder Care Direction to manage her finances. Per the contract, which was dated Sept. 1, 2020, Dempsey was responsible for managing the woman’s financial accounts, including providing her with a $4,400 monthly allotment for her expenses. Police said the woman provided Dempsey with $284,000 from her accounts at the start of the contract, with each payment to be made on the 28th of each month beginning October 2020.
Investigators said Dempsey would make the monthly deposits, but the dates were inconsistent. Dempsey then began making late payments to the woman, prompting the woman to request that Dempsey transfer the remainder of her balance on Oct. 27, 2022, as she no longer trusted him with her finances, police said.
At the time the woman requested to terminate the contract, her account had a balance of approximately $180,000, investigators said. Between the time the woman requested to terminate the contract and the time she contacted police, Dempsey continued to make the monthly payments but never returned the balance or terminated the contract, police said.
Investigators contacted Dempsey on Feb. 2, at which point he allegedly stated he was working on returning the woman’s money, adding a transfer had been initiated on Feb. 1. Dempsey agreed to send police documentation confirming the transfer, however he never sent the information, according to police.
Over the months that followed, investigators and the woman’s daughter repeatedly attempted to secure the remaining funds, however Dempsey would repeatedly make excuses including failed transfer attempts, needing a signed release form, and bank errors, according to charging documents. Dempsey then stopped making the monthly payments to the woman in April and ceased all communication with the woman and her daughter, police said.
“Because of Dempsey’s failure to make payments to [the woman], [she] only had $47 left in her checking account, which led her to have to take money out of her brokerage account to afford her daily living expenses,” investigators said, in the affidavit of probable cause.
Further attempts by police to contact Dempsey yielded negative results, prompting police to file charges on Aug. 8. Dempsey was arrested and taken into custody on Aug. 31, when he was subsequently arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Margaret Hunsicker.
The complaint notes that as of the time the charges were filed, the woman had lost $17,600 in monthly income for the months of April, May, June, and July. She additionally has a loss of $160,211.11 in the remaining fund balance that was never transferred, police said.
Dempsey did not respond to a request for comment from this news organization. The court docket does not list an attorney for Dempsey at this time.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 25 at 11:15 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Albert Augustine.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using police reports, court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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