Local political gadfly arrested for exploiting elderly woman

Provo Daily Herald ^ | May 4, 2010 | Matt Reichman

[Colofornian]

PROVO -- A Provo man was booked into jail Sunday on charges of exploiting an elderly adult.

Donald Roy Savage, 56, is charged with exploiting an elderly adult with intent to profit, a 2nd-degree felony, according to 4th District Court documents. Savage is known as a political gadfly and has been involved with local political campaigns. He lists estate planning as his occupation on his Twitter account.

Savage became acquainted with a 74-year-old woman at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints singles dance more than a year ago, and soon after began charging thousands of dollars in personal expenses to her credit card, said Lt. Arnold Lemmon of the Brigham Young University Police Department.

"His [modus operandi] is through the church; he met her at the LDS singles dance, groomed her, befriended her -- all under the color of religion," Lemmon said.

The situation started out very innocently in the victim's eyes, Lemmon said, with Savage borrowing her card with excuses that he was in between jobs, or "had a check coming." These expenses included groceries, gas and car repairs.

The victim's boiling point was reached when $3,600 in BYU football tickets were charged to her card, Lemmon said. This included a membership in the BYU Cougar Club, a tickets package that provides high-priority seating, gifts and parking passes to those who pay yearly dues, which run from $50 to $1,000, depending on the level.

The victim demanded her card back, and he refused in a "smooth way," he said.

"He was still playing the religion card," Lemmon said. "She finally said, 'Enough is enough.' "

The victim called the BYU ticket office and refused payment, he said, at which point the ticket office informed BYU police. Upon discovering that more than $20,000 in charges to the woman's card (including an iPhone) were racked up over the course of eight months, the county attorney opted for an elderly abuse charge, filing it April 8, Lemmon said.

Savage's source of income was "sporadic" over the course of the year, Lemmon said, but he wasn't trying to sell the tickets for money.

"I guess it was to invite a group of people -- 'Come to a game on me,' " he said.

According to court documents, the incident happened in May 2009, and Savage is set to make his first court date appearance on Wednesday.

[Colofornian]

From the article: Savage became acquainted with a 74-year-old woman at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints singles dance more than a year ago, and soon after began charging thousands of dollars in personal expenses to her credit card, said Lt. Arnold Lemmon of the Brigham Young University Police Department. "His [modus operandi] is through the church; he met her at the LDS singles dance, groomed her, befriended her -- all under the color of religion," Lemmon said.

From the article: The victim's boiling point was reached when $3,600 in BYU football tickets were charged to her card, Lemmon said. This included a membership in the BYU Cougar Club, a tickets package that provides high-priority seating, gifts and parking passes to those who pay yearly dues, which run from $50 to $1,000, depending on the level. The victim demanded her card back, and he refused in a "smooth way," he said. "He was still playing the religion card," Lemmon said. "She finally said, 'Enough is enough.'"

[Tennessee Nana]

Savage became acquainted with a 74-year-old woman at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints singles dance
____________________________________________________

Say what ???

[Tennessee Nana]

What Joey Smith could have done with credit cards...

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Alert the FIRING SQUAD!

[ozzymandus]

Which “local political campaigns” was this creep involved with? Since there’s no political affiliation mentioned, I assume he’s a RAT.

[Elsie]

"His [modus operandi] is through the church; he met her at the LDS singles dance, groomed her, befriended her -- all under the color of religion," Lemmon said.

What IS it with these LDS folks that tend to believe people in authority?

[Elsie]

...BYU Cougar Club...

Granny gettin' DOWN!

[MissesBush]

Yes, if a Mormon does something bad it must mean all Mormons are bad! Because Baptists, Catholics, Presyberterians and Lutherans never do anything bad and if it does it never says anything negative about the entire religion, right?? What about the vast majority of hard working, law abiding Mormons who are good neighbors and citizens?? Nah, couldn’t be! Not those evil Mormons. I see the Mormon obsession continues with ole’s Colo and Tennesee! But hey, it’s easier to post a crime blotter piece to try to trash an entire religion than to actually espouse your own beliefs in an affirmative way.

[MissesBush]

What Joey Smith could have done with credit cards...

You mean like what Protestant televangist crooks have done like Oral Roberts and Jim and Tammy Faye Baker and so many others?

[svcw]

Your premise is incorrect. It is that LDS seem to ignore that there are those in their own ranks who are scum. It is as though “we are LDS therefore can do no wrong” or “there is no way an LDS would do that” mentality. There are creeps and scum everywhere who prey on people, when you have the attitude of absolute authority by one person over another......no good can come of that.

[Colofornian]

Yes, if a Mormon does something bad it must mean all Mormons are bad! Because Baptists, Catholics, Presyberterians and Lutherans never do anything bad and if it does it never says anything negative about the entire religion, right??

(So the first words out of your keyboard on this thread is that you're defending this exploiter of an elderly person -- and not siding with the victim? What? Did you just "feel the need" to be the personal apologist of this scammer?)

Secondly, Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians and Lutherans to my knowledge actually say that the qualification for being members of these churches and the doctrinal ties linked to them is that they need to actually admit they are sinners.

Mormons? No. Mormons claim actually that when they are born into the church, they are 100% totally innocent for at least the first 8 years of life.

Furthermore, they deny the doctrine of "original sin" -- meaning that people have inherited a sin nature down through this day from Adam & Eve.

In addition, Lds leaders call fellow Mormons "gods in embryo" -- and that the spirits that inherited their bodies were perfect spirit beings who lived perfect spirit lives on another planet before inhabiting some body on earth (either in embyronic or birth process).

So, believe me. If you were a member of XYZ Church...and your leaders claimed that...
(1) We're completely innocent creatures for the first 8 years of our lives;
(2) And before that, in another life on another planet, our spirits were 100% perfect there;
(3) And after this life, we will be a "god" -- yes the kind of god you pray to, worship, adore, glorify, and yes, beyond all you mere mortals, etc.;
and (4) Until then, well, we're "gods-in-embryo"...
...tell me, Mrs. Bush, who's upped the moral standard as to who they are? Bottom line: The contrast is MUCH greater. (And that's also why Jesus was so harsh-sounding on the religious legalists, the Pharisees, 2,000 years ago)

[Tennessee Nana]

What Joey Smith could have done with credit cards...

[jimt]

There’s a crowd of Mormon bashers on FR. Very self righteous (holier than thou), they never miss a chance to denigrate, slander, denounce, decry...well, you get the picture.

[jimt]

BTW, the predator should be denounced and if possible, prosecuted.

[ejonesie22]

There is?

They do?

Wow...

I would like to see that, especially the slander, denigration etc.

All is see is folks posting and exposing LDS doctrine, beliefs and such....

Oh, wait, that slanders and denigrates Christ and Christians...

Ok, I have seen it then...

[kcvl]

[Tennessee Nana]

There’s a crowd of Mormon bashers on FR. Very self righteous (holier than thou), they never miss a chance to denigrate, slander, denounce, decry...well, you get the picture.
__________________________________

Yeah I do...

I’m one of the victims...

Those mormon bashers of Christians bash me because I’m a Chrsitian...

and I kepp saying that the Bible is the only Word of God...

and that Jesus shed his blood on the Cross and died on the Cross and rose again the third day to save us...

and that the Trinity is true...

and that the Virgin mary never had sex with man or god or any other male of any type of species in order to conceive jesus...

and that Jesus was not married nor had children...

and Jesus was not a polygamist...

and that the God of the Christian Bible was not a polygamist...

and that polygamy is not necessary to get into Heaven..

and that Jesus never lost or misplaced His Church...

and that the Church that Jesus built has continued for the last 2,000 years none stop..

and that only Jesus is our judge...

and so on down through the doctrines of Chrsitianity...

Yeah I get bashed a lot by the mormon bashers of Christians...

Thanks for noticing...

:)

[BlueMoose]

The jump is from a 56 year old to a 8 year old. How do we get there?

[BlueMoose]

I can’t see any place where this man was a member of the LDS Church.

[BlueMoose]

This video, featuring Peter Popoff, is the first of several that illustrates how TV evangelists prey upon the naive and gullible with their foolishness. It is disgraceful that TV stations allow these dangerous hucksters to practice their superstitious nonsense on our airwaves.

http://vidchili.com/video/kMv64zAEOXx/Televangelists_Exploiting_the_Gullible_Part_1/