It hasn’t been a great week for off-field behavior in the Big Ten. First, Minnesota’s Athletic Director Norwood Teague stepped down after it was revealed he was sending sexually explicit and harassing text messages. Second, Nebraska public address announcer Patrick Combs is facing five felony charges after allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from two elderly women.
People can do pretty disgusting things, but stealing money from someone with dementia who can’t fend for themselves is almost sub-human.
Via the Lincoln Journal Star:
Patrick Combs, the amplified voice you heard inside Memorial Stadium, stands accused of swindling two elderly women of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to court documents.
Combs, 49, of Gretna appeared in Lancaster County Court Thursday where prosecutors advised him of the five felony charges he faces, including theft over $1,500 and adult abuse.
Combs turned himself in at the Lancaster County jail Thursday morning.
He posted bail and was released on $50,000 bond Thursday afternoon after appearing via video screen before a judge, who denied a request to release him on a recognizance bond.
Combs, the stadium’s public-address announcer for Husker football since 2002, allegedly used his power of attorney status with two Lincoln women, ages 88 and 92, to bilk them out of more than $363,000, Lincoln Police Investigator Cindy Koenig-Warnke said in court documents.
The bulk of the money came from the accounts of Beverly J. Mosher, an 88-year-old widow and longtime University of Nebraska-Lincoln employee who had dementia, the investigator wrote in an affidavit. Combs was a friend of hers.
I know a great way for Nebraska to move beyond this situation and get some positive publicity: @FauxPelini for public address announcer. (It doesn’t matter that the real Pelini is at Youngstown State, right?)
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