Police say a woman stole $600,000 from her husband and tried to cover it up by convincing him that he had Alzheimer's

• Connecticut police said a woman stole $600,000 from her husband over 20 years.
• Authorities said she tried to cover it up by convincing him he had Alzheimer's.

Police said a woman stole $600,000 from her husband over about 20 years and hid the scheme by convincing him he had Alzheimer's disease.

Connecticut police said Donna Marino stole the money in the form of pension checks, workers' compensation payments, and Social Security income and deposited some of the money into her mother's bank account, The Washington Post reported.

Marino was arrested last week by investigators with the East Haven Police Department and has been charged with first-degree grand larceny and third-degree forgery, according to The Post. She has since been released and is due back in court on November 29, The Post added.

In March 2019, Elena Marino, the adult daughter of Donna Marino's husband, told police "she found financial paperwork laying around" in her father's home for credit cards he knew nothing about, according to a warrant affidavit obtained by the New Haven Register. The daughter alleged that Donna Marino forged documents to gain control of the finances of Elena Marino's father.

When police approached Donna Marino's husband, who remains unnamed, he told them that his wife controlled their finances and he was unaware of the fraud allegations. Police said Donna Marino convinced her husband he had Alzheimer's to keep the fraud from him.

"Donna explained when [her husband] wanted to go inside the bank to make a transaction, she told him the last time he went inside he made a scene due to his Alzheimer's Disease, causing [him] not to go inside to avoid embarrassment," Sgt. Gregory Borer said in the affidavit, citing the Register report.

"Donna explained she fabricated this scenario to prevent [her husband] from going inside the bank and discovering the low balance in their accounts," Borer added.

Borer wrote in the affidavit that Donna Marino told police she used the money to "help her family," not to "go on shopping sprees or vacations."

"Donna stated she was trying to make everyone 'happy,' but it was at [her husband's expense]," Borer wrote.

Elena Marino, the daughter of Donna Marino's husband, told WFSB that her father believed his wife because his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Elena Marino said being diagnosed with the disease was one of her father's worst fears as he grew older.

"He's looking at me and he's going, 'Honey, is this true? Am I broke?' And I said, 'Yeah, Dad, you are broke,' and he's crying," Elena Marino told WSFB. "Imagine your father crying to you. It was awful. ... And he's like, 'Do I have Alzheimer's?' And I'm like, 'Dad you do not have Alzheimer's. She's lying to you.'"

Donna Marino and her husband got married in 2009, and he filed for divorce in January 2020 after she was accused of the scheme. At first, he decided not to press charges, but in March 2020, Elena Marino reached back out to police, telling them that they wished to pursue criminal charges, the Register reported.

Representatives from the East Haven Police Department did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.