A married Idaho corrections officer allegedly duped a former Olympic velocity skater right into a relationship in a twisted plot to develop into the beneficiary of his will — earlier than contributing to his dying, in keeping with cops.
Marina Billings, 49, a corrections officer in Pocatello, Idaho, is accused of exploiting 68-year-old Boris Leikin within the monetary scheme that additionally concerned her husband, Robert Billings, 70, according to Fox 13 Now.
After assembly the previous athlete on-line, Billings moved to Utah to dwell with him at his residence within the Salt Lake Metropolis suburb of Cottonwood Heights, the information outlet reported. A minimum of at first, Leikin was unaware she was married, cops instructed the station.
The seemingly wholesome man’s well being then quickly started to say no and he was hospitalized, ABC 4 reported.
Billings instructed Leikin’s neighbors that she moved in to take care of him and to regulate his funds throughout his hospitalization, in keeping with the station.
However after he was launched, Leikin was remoted from others and was hospitalized once more when his well being deteriorated a second time, ABC 4 mentioned.
On the hospital, Billings restricted guests and claimed she was his fiancée, in keeping with the outlet, citing court docket paperwork. Hospital workers mentioned Leikin appeared severely uncared for, the report mentioned.
His neighbors instructed the outlet that Billings invited them over in the future and instructed them she was adjusting Leikin’s will, claiming he was affected by a terminal case of mad cow illness, an incurable neurodegenerative illness of cattle.
The neighbors instructed ABC 4 that Billings’ husband was current after they arrived.
They mentioned Marina positioned a pen in Leikin’s shaking hand and compelled him to signal the amended doc whereas she spoke to him in a “peculiar” method — “like a canine,” the outlet reported.
Leikin died on July 6, 2021.
Throughout a search of Billings’ residence, police discovered a secret basement the place they recovered copies of Leikin’s will, energy of lawyer and medical data, ABC 4 reported.
Billings, a reserving deputy on the Bannock County Jail, and her husband have been charged with monetary exploitation and aggravated abuse.
Jeff Corridor, the chief deputy on the Salt Lake County District Lawyer’s Workplace, defined why they weren’t charged with homicide.
“In a homicide cost, we might accuse somebody of instantly inflicting the dying of another person and doing that unlawfully,” Corridor instructed Fox 13 Now. “On this occasion, the allegation is that these individuals created circumstances that compromised a weak grownup’s well being, not essentially that they instantly brought about a dying.”
Investigators are nonetheless making an attempt to find out if the couple deliberately received Leikin sick, Fox 13 mentioned.
The Bannock County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned Billings has been positioned on administrative depart whereas the county conducts an inner probe, the East Idaho News reported.
“The Bannock County Sheriff’s Workplace expects the best skilled conduct of its workers each on-and off-duty, which incorporates conformance to legal guidelines,” Bannock County Sheriff Tony Manu mentioned in an announcement.
“The Bannock County Sheriff’s Workplace is cooperating absolutely with the Utah investigation,” he added.
Leiken, who continued to skate nicely into his 60s, was reportedly one of many oldest athletes to compete within the US Olympic Trials. He was a Masters World Champion and set a Masters world document in 2006, Fox 13 Now reported.
