MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – After nearly five years of investigation, Madeline Lostal-Furst, 56, of Limon, Colorado, was arrested at Miami International Airport on charges of grand theft, fraud, and exploitation. Lostal-Furst is accused of exploiting a man with an intellectual disability by posing as his caregiver, befriending him, and ultimately stealing his home.
According to the arrest warrant, the victim, 59, was deemed “totally incapacitated” due to his intellectual disability and was functionally illiterate. Lostal-Furst gained power of attorney over him and used a quit claim deed in 2019 to transfer the man’s home, located at 14500 Southwest 291st Street in the Leisure City area, to herself. She then sold the property to an investor in February 2022 for $190,000.
The victim had inherited the home from his brother in 2014. In 2020, the victim’s sister alerted the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) about Lostal-Furst’s actions, suspecting that the woman was poisoning the man or tampering with his medications. She also expressed concern that the woman was trying to place him into a facility after stealing his home.
The victim’s sister further reported that Lostal-Furst had been locking him out of the house and leaving him outside on the porch. In one instance, the victim was found wandering the streets of Gainesville and was later hospitalized under the Baker Act before being placed in an assisted living facility in DeLand.
In December 2019, an attorney prepared the quit claim deed at Lostal-Furst’s request. Although the attorney claimed the victim understood what he was signing, investigators determined that the victim, due to his disability, likely did not comprehend the gravity of the situation.
By September 2024, Lostal-Furst was believed to have been living out-of-state. She appeared for an extradition hearing in Colorado in February 2024 and was later transferred back to South Florida. She remains in custody at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $45,000 bond.
