Woman pleads guilty to stealing from elderly woman in her care

A Council Bluffs woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of spending half-a-million dollars that belonged to a woman she was caring for. Forty-seven-year-old Lori Knotek was charged with felony theft by deception and abuse of a vulnerable adult after investigators found she’d bought a guitar, a high-tech TV and jewelry with the money of an 87-year-old Council Bluffs woman she cared for in her home and paid credit-card bills with money in an account for the elderly woman’s care. Dorothy Smith was placed in a Nebraska nursing home and advocates say she suffers from dementia. Knotek allegedly used her money to buy a house valued at $260,000, then bought it herself from her client for one dollar. She’s pleaded guilty and could face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine when she’s sentenced in October.