OGDEN — Two people have been charged with keeping an elderly man locked in a bedroom in filthy conditions and looting his bank account of up to $50,000.

Pam Langi, 55, of Ogden, was booked into the Weber County Jail on Thursday. She had been listed as a fugitive after failing to appear for her first court date last week. A warrant is out for the arrest of the other suspect, Sooletiti Langi, 53, of South Ogden, who also failed to appear in court.

The Weber County Attorney’s Office on Jan. 3 charged them both with exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony, and abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult, a third-degree felony. A 2nd District Court judge approved a summons ordering them to appear in court Feb. 16.

South Ogden police said in charging documents that the case began last Aug. 26 when a neighbor of the 79-year-old victim heard him yelling for help and they called 911. Police said they found the man trapped in a bedroom because the locks on the bedroom door and the adjoining bathroom door had been reversed.

The man told police he woke up and was not able to get out of his room and did not have his phone. The man, who uses a walker and has a catheter, smelled of urine and the catheter tube was not connected to the collection bag, police said. The man was taken to a hospital, where personnel told police the catheter had not been cleaned or changed for six weeks and the man had a urinary tract infection due to lack of proper care.

As police were investigating, the Langis arrived at the apartment and said they were the man’s caretakers. According to charging documents, they allegedly admitted reversing the doorknobs so the man could not “turn on the stove or wander off.” But they said he did not have any diagnosis requiring confinement and that he can cook for himself and typically does not wander away from home.

Asked about the man’s phone, Pam Langi allegedly said it was lost in the apartment. Police said Sooletiti Langi told them that Pam Langi quit paying the bill “because she wanted a break from (the man’s) calls.”

Police said Sooletiti Langi told them he had given the man a cup of alcohol and a sleeping pill, then locked the doors and went out for the evening.

Ogden police then began investigating the financial relationship between the Langis and the victim. Detectives said the man told them that he had moved to Utah from California in May 2021 and Pam Langi had accompanied him as a caretaker. She did not have a contract to provide care for him and she did not work for a caretaking company, police said.

Based on interviews with the man and an examination of his bank records, police said they determined that, of $80,000 he deposited in his bank account after selling a trailer in California, about $50,000 was gone. In July, the account was flagged by the bank for potential fraud because $50,000 in cash was withdrawn in 45 days without any major purchases.

The man told police he had given Pam Langi $20,000 for her services. He said he had given her his bank PIN number and that he could not account for all of the withdrawals.

Detectives said in the charging documents that the Langis told them they had become involved in a Bitcoin scam and that Sooletiti Langi had used $10,000 of the man’s money in the scam without the man’s knowledge.

According to court records, a Salt Lake City police officer reported that he pulled over Pam Langi on Wednesday night because the registered owner of the car, Langi, was wanted on a felony warrant from Weber County on the elder abuse charges.

The officer said in a probable cause statement that he smelled marijuana in the car and saw a bag of the drug on the seat. He also found a machete next to the seat. She was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on the felony warrant, plus suspicion of misdemeanor drug possession and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person.

She was taken to the Weber County Jail on Thursday to face the elder abuse charges. Bail on the arrest warrant was $10,000. According to jail records, she was no longer in custody as of Friday morning.

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