Colchester man admits freezing mother for Social Security checks

July 17, 2009 | Delaware County breaking news, Health, crime

Staff and Wire Reports

A Colchester man admitted Friday that he stuffed his 98-year-old dead mother into a freezer so he could keep cashing her Social Security checks.

Roland Auslander

Roland Auslander, 69, of 911 Cooks Brooks Road, pleaded guilty to grand larceny and forgery charges in Sullivan County court Friday. He could face up to seven years in prison at his October sentencing.

State police discovered Herta Auslander’s body inside a freezer in October after receiving a tip she’d died more than a year earlier. An autopsy concluded she died of natural causes. Her age was also reported previously as 100 and 104.

Prosecutors say Roland Auslander kept his mother in the freezer for at least 18 months at his home in the hamlet of Cooks Falls. After eluding capture for months, he was arrested at his home in March. The two previously lived together at 160 Auslander Road, troopers have said.

Auslander was originally charged in Delaware County with unlawful disposal of human remains in violation of state public health law, a misdemeanor; and resisting arrest, authorities said at the time.

Also in March, he was taken to Sullivan County for arraignment on a warrant based on an indictment from that county, troopers said. The indictment originally charged Auslander with second-degree forgery, third-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree attempted grand larceny, troopers said.