They befriended a Vietnam War vet. Now Pierce County couple accused of financial abuse
Pierce County prosecutors have brought criminal charges against a married couple accused of financially exploiting a Vietnam War veteran by stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars over several years after convincing him to move in with them.
Sara Maldini and Danny Maldini were charged Wednesday in Superior Court with five counts each of first-degree theft from a vulnerable adult and first-degree identity theft. A summons was issued for arraignment to enter a plea in the case, according to court records.
An attorney for the couple was not listed in court records. The News Tribune was not able to reach the defendants for comment.
Charging documents allege the couple extracted at least $250,628 from the victim between 2018 and 2021. The man was described as a Vietnam veteran in court records and reportedly received about $8,000 per month from Veterans Affairs benefits, retirement benefits and Social Security. According to the probable-cause document, the Maldinis were also paid $800 a month by Washington state since 2014 to care for the man.
Before Adult Protective Services helped move the victim out of the Maldinis’ home, charging documents allege, he was cut off from other people, and the couple allegedly had not been taking the man to the doctor for blood work or making sure his medications were properly filled.
“He had been isolated from everyone he knew, and his phone would not call out to anyone except the Maldinis,” the probable-cause document states. “He felt like he had nowhere to go. [The victim] didn’t have a computer or a smart phone.”
The Maldinis allegedly convinced the man to sell his home in 2019, then funneled $100,000 of the proceeds into their bank account. The same year, Danny Maldini allegedly opened a credit card in the victim’s name and incurred over $40,000 in charges without his knowledge “entirely for their own purchases.”
Further investigation found the victim was convinced to open a joint checking account with Sara Maldini, and the couple made over $50,000 in purchases with his Wells Fargo card. There were also online transfers out of the account that amounted to $148,940.
“[The victim] became concerned about why his bank balance was so low — but the Maldinis explained that he was just confused, and they were helping him pay his bills,” the probable cause document states. “The Maldinis were intentionally keeping his mail from him so that he could not see the bank statements.”
Investigators found money was depleted from the victim’s savings account and identified “numerous” fraudulent charges on a bank account. Several vehicles were also allegedly purchased for the Maldinis with funds from the victim’s accounts.
The victim met Sara Maldini in 2013 when the man traveled daily from his home in Lacey to the now-closed Old Country Buffet in Lakewood, where Maldini was a waitress, according to the probable-cause document. A prior stroke had left the man unable to carry out many daily tasks.
After befriending the man, Sara Maldini started to go to his house to clean it, and court documents state she and her husband, Danny, eventually persuaded him to sell his residence and move in with them in Spanaway in February 2019, when the man was 85.
The victim’s daughter became concerned and petitioned for a guardianship, according to the probable-cause document, but the petition was dismissed because her father was of sound mind.
In April 2021, the victim contacted Adult Protective Services within the Department of Social and Health Services. He allegedly said he wanted help getting out of the Maldinis’ home, and he believed the couple had been stealing his money for years.
Later that year, a vulnerable adult protection order case in Thurston County Superior Court led to a court commissioner finding that the Maldinis were in default and owed more than $1.6 million in principal judgment to the man, according to court records. They were also ordered to pay $11,556.65 in attorney fees and costs.
Sara Maldini’s alleged financial exploitation of the man led to the indefinite suspension of her pharmacy assistant license in August 2022. She had been issued the license in 2020, according to the Department of Health, and after APS determined she had abused and exploited a vulnerable adult, she was placed on the DSHS long-term care abuse and neglect registry.
This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 5:15 AM with the headline "They befriended a Vietnam War vet. Now Pierce County couple accused of financial abuse."
