OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) — An Opelousas woman is fighting to save her home after a family member exploited her for more than half a million dollars.

Helen Williams is a 78-year-old retired educator who finished paying off her house 10 years ago. Following her retirement, Williams trusted family member Gregory Red to help her with her finances and was shocked to find out Red forged her name on various financial documents and credit cards that totaled a loss of over $750,000.

Since the incident, Red was arrested for fraud and elderly abuse, but mortgage companies from around the country are still making efforts to foreclose Williams’ house. Her friend, Eva Pickens, has been working to help Williams keep her house.

“They know it was a fraudulent case,” Pickens said “Yet they’re pushing, there seems to be a harder push to get the home foreclosed on. They have all of this evidence. And so why not, you know, pursue who was negligent, who didn’t do due process?”

While there is still hope the mortgage companies will drop the charges to Williams, a GoFundMe has already been set up to make sure she isn’t forced to leave her home. Pickens and the rest of Williams’ family hope this incident can be used as a warning to those with elderly family members to avoid this disaster from happening again.

“Because, you know, someone like Miss Helen, they believe in paying their bills,” she said. “And to have this hanging over her head is just very disappointing. And so, my fear is that this is going to set some kind of a precedent that people feel they can do this to the elderly. And I’m sure I’ve been reading that the governor of the state of Louisiana takes elderly abuse very seriously. And so, we’re hoping that we can get some support and some relief for Ms. Helen.”

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