FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A former regular guest on Fox News stole at least $224,000 from her 88-year-old mother and unnecessarily put her in a nursing home twice against her will, including by once dragging her mom from her home, Florida authorities said Friday.
Cathy Areu, who provided a liberal perspective on several shows, faces numerous felony charges including kidnapping, exploitation of the elderly and organized scheme to defraud. Miami-Dade County prosecutors say she falsified documents to take control of her mother’s home, took money from her mother’s reverse mortgage and savings account, and took out credit cards in her mother’s name and then used them for her own benefit.
“Every incident of alleged elder exploitation or abuse touches our heart and never fails to shock us. It seems particularly harder to understand when the alleged perpetrator of the exploitation is a daughter, or a son or another blood relative,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement.
According to Areu’s Fox News profile, she is a former contributing editor for the Washington Post Magazine, where she conducted political interviews from 2001 to 2012, and in 2001 founded the magazine Catalina. It sought to “break stereotypes and show a positive side of the U.S. Hispanic community.” She also hosted the “Liberal Sherpa” podcast. Fox took down Areu’s profile after her arrest became widely known.
In 2018, Areu, 51, was a regular unpaid guest on conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s show and appeared on other Fox News shows. In 2020, she sued the network, Carlson, Sean Hannity and others, claiming sexual harassment, but a judge dismissed the suit the following year.
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