Man steals $3.7 million from elderly woman and her estate

(WPHL)– A Flourtown man has been arrested after he was found to have stolen $3.7 million from a deceased elderly woman and her estate.

66-year-old James Batt is being accused of stealing from Alice Lineman, who died at the age of 92 in August 2019.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office says officials found out about the theft after Lineman’s relatives filed a lawsuit in the Montgomery County Orphans’ Court against Batt, who was named the executor of the will but never dispersed Lineman’s funds.

On March 20, 2023, Batt was removed as “Trustee of the Living Trust of Alice Lineman” by a judge and was ordered to appear in court and turn over all estate assets. He refused to cooperate, and Batt was found in contempt of court.

Batt was then issued a subpoena to appear before the court in March 2025, and he was found in contempt of the court again.

On March 19, a Judge issued a warrant for his arrest, and the case was referred to the DA’s office.

The Montgomery County Detective Bureau’s investigation found that Batt was a “friend” of Lineman’s and was aware of her dementia, which required a live-in aide to help her with all daily activities.

As her “friend”, Batt was one of the largest beneficiaries of her estate, receiving 45 percent, and was named the executor and trustee of Lineman’s estate.

Prior to Lineman’s death, Batt spent $30,003 in personal expenditures on Lineman’s American Express account, changed the mailing address for the account to his Flourtown residence, and added his significant other as an authorized user on the account.

Batt also withdrew $884,743 from Lineman’s Wells Fargo account and $156,068 from her Morgan Stanley account.

Following her death in 2019 and until 2022, Batt wrote 139 checks, payable to himself, from the Wells Fargo account, totaling $592,400, and made charges, transfers, and wrote checks from the Morgan Stanley account, totaling $1,384,435. He also made transactions totaling $490,632 on the American Express account.

The total amount of Batt’s unauthorized transactions from Lineman’s account before and after her death totaled $3,715,318.

Investigators found that the money was spent on extravagant travel, hotels, gourmet restaurants, theater tickets, wine and spirits, shopping at high-end stores, and plastic surgery.

Batt only distributed one $150,000 payment to a beneficiary named in Lineman’s will.

“This defendant took advantage of an elderly woman suffering from senile dementia by stealing more than $3.7 million from her and from her estate, thereby draining the assets available to Ms. Lineman, her estate, and her heirs,” said DA Steele. “Through our prosecution of this egregious crime, we will hold Batt accountable for living extravagantly on money that should have gone to Ms. Lineman’s family.”

Batt is charged with multiple felony counts of Financial Exploitation of an Older Adult, Theft by Unlawful Taking, Receiving Stolen Property, Misapplication of Entrusted Property, and Theft by Failure to Make Required Dispositions. He was arraigned on April 21, 2025, and bail was set at $99,000 cash. A provision was added stating that the source of bail money could not be funds from Lineman’s estate.

Batt was unable to make bail and was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.