Graham Christian Selva, 26, of Somerville, Morgan County, Alabama, United States is accused of stealing money from a family member, 81. An investigation started on March 19, 2023 when money was reported missing from the elderly person’s financial account.

Investigators found that transactions moved around $35,000 from the victim’s account to a CashApp account belonging to Selva. When a family member asked him how he was buying guns, he allegedly said he “got ways to get money”.

On March 22, 2023, Morgan County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Selva. He was charged with first-degree financial exploitation of an elderly person and third-degree domestic violence-harassment.

Bond for Selva was set at $36,000. He was booked into the Morgan County Jail in Decatur, Morgan County. 

A person is guilty of financial exploitation if he or she uses deception, intimidation, undue influence, force or threat of force to obtain or exert unauthorized control over a property of another person aged 60 or older. There is undue influence when the elderly person is prevented from exercising free judgment and choice through domination, coercion or manipulation.

Like other domestic ills, elderly abuse has generally been considered a state concern rather than a federal concern in the U.S.. Because of this, the lack of federal law pertaining to elder abuse has placed the responsibility to define this activity on the states, Thomas L. Hafemeister explained in “Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation in an Aging America“.