Attorneys representing an 81-year-old woman have filed suit against a Bastrop police officer to block him from selling his home, which they claim was paid for through the fraudulent exploitation of the elderly woman.

Officer Patrick Amy had control of the woman’s finances through a power of attorney agreement. In March, the woman's attorneys accused him of releasing a $125,000 lien the woman had on Amy’s home without her authorization. The woman had loaned Amy the $125,000 in 2016 to purchase the home, county records show.

The woman's attorneys also allege that Amy transferred the deed of the woman’s home to his name for $1 using a quitclaim deed. Both homes are blocks from one another in the Circle D Estates neighborhood in central Bastrop County.

Amy is also the focus of a separate and ongoing Texas Rangers criminal investigation that was spurred by information surfaced by the woman's attorneys, Joe Grady Tuck and Chris Kirby of the Tuck Law Firm, the attorneys said. Bastrop Police Chief James Altgelt in March confirmed that an investigation was ongoing.



The civil suit, which also names Amy’s wife and son as defendants, was filed last week after the attorneys discovered that Amy’s three-bedroom home was listed for sale for $260,000 on several home buying websites, which show that the listings were originally posted in late May. The suit is intended, in part, to notify potential buyers that there is ongoing litigation over the property and to secure the woman’s chances of recovering damages.

“It was brought to our attention that this rogue cop has now made plans to sell his home, which was the subject of a $125,000 loan from (the woman), without her knowledge or permission,” said the attorneys, who asked to keep the woman’s name confidential for fear that she might become a target for exploitation.

Through his attorney, Ken Bigham Jr., Patrick said he “vehemently denies the allegations in the lawsuit, and he firmly believes that when it’s all said and done and when litigation is over with, he’ll be vindicated.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong, and he feels very strongly about it,” Bigham said.

The officer and the 81-year-old woman first met through the Bastrop Police Department’s Citizens on Patrol Program, which allows residents to assist the department with neighborhood crime prevention. Amy, his wife Ruth and son Eugene “interjected themselves” into the woman’s life and “actively isolated her from friends and her only child” while “exerting increasing amounts of influence” over her life and affairs, the lawsuit says.

At one point, Amy convinced the woman to sell her home in Jacob’s Landing, which she owned debt-free, and persuaded her to buy a home in Circle D Estates, the suit says. He also convinced the woman to loan him $125,000 to purchase his own three-bedroom home in the neighborhood.

Court documents show that in 2017 the woman granted Amy durable power of attorney, an agreement that gives someone control over another person’s finances, assets and possessions when they become mentally incapable of handling their own affairs.

Using that power of attorney in 2018, Amy released the $125,000 lien the woman had on his property, which thereby freed him from debt repayment, attorneys said.

He also used the authority to place the woman in the Silver Pines Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Bastrop before removing all of her furniture and belongings from her house, including several family heirlooms, and moving his own furniture and family in, the attorneys said.

The attorneys say they have not been able to recover any of her possessions, including a Bible that had been in her family for over 100 years.

In April 2018, Amy transferred the deed to the woman's home, appraised at $138,000, to his name for $1 using a quitclaim deed, county records show. Six months later, the deed was transferred back to the woman after "he knew he was getting caught," Kirby said.

Attorneys revoked Amy’s power of attorney on Feb. 27, the same day they were retained by the woman’s family. All occupants of her home were given notice to vacate on March 1, the same day Amy transferred the title to the woman’s car — which he also had in his possession — over to her daughter.

Amy was hired by the Bastrop Police Department in 2015 after working as a jailer with the Travis County sheriff’s office.

Altgelt has not suspended Amy or placed him on administrative leave since the allegations surfaced, saying in March that the accusations do “not deal with officer Amy’s actions as a Bastrop Police Department officer.”

After learning about Tuck’s civil suit, Altgelt said on Tuesday that he still has not been presented evidence showing probable cause of a criminal act by Amy.

“If and when that takes place, or I am told that Patrick has lied in the (Texas Rangers') investigation and there’s proof to substantiate it, then I’ll reconsider his current status with the Police Department. But at this time, I have not received that information,” Altgelt said. “He’s entitled to due process and there is a complete difference between having criminal charges filed against somebody and a civil lawsuit being filed.”