ANSONIA – The daughter of a woman who lost money in an alleged elder fraud scam said she’s frustrated with the slow pace of courts.
Laura da Fonte, the daughter of a woman who police said was extorted out of about $25,000 by Harry Danley, spoke to The Valley Indy about the case Nov. 6. Da Fonte lives in South Carolina but has traveled to support her mother during court appearances.
Danley, an employee with the Department of Public Works, was arrested and charged with first-degree larceny in June. Da Fonte said she’s frustrated Danley hasn’t entered a plea or retained a lawyer, after five months and seven appearances on the court docket.
“Right before Halloween, he said that he asked for a court-appointed lawyer and was denied, and he’s appealing that decision, and so they gave him until Dec. 15. This is what it’s like. And every time somebody’s come to represent the family,” da Fonte said.
Police allege Danley convinced da Fonte’s mother to write him a series of ten checks between 2022 and 2025. Danley allegedly described the payments as loans to improve a home he hoped to sell, although most of the money has not been paid back.
Danley knew the alleged victim because he had cut her lawn for years. She paid him for lawn-cutting services, but those payments are not part of the criminal case.
Da Fonte said her mother is 86 and was diagnosed with mild dementia earlier this year.
She said her mother knew she was giving money to Danley – but not the amount.
“She couldn’t, in her mind, understand how long that he had been coming back to her, how many times he had asked for money,” da Fonte said. “When I asked her how much she had lent him, she thought a few thousand. She had no idea.”
In the months since Danley’s arrest in June, da Fonte said she and her sisters have had to set up protections for their mom. She said they’ve purchased cameras for her mother’s home and begun screening all of her incoming calls.
“It’s very hard to see my mom’s dementia progress,” da Fonte said. “And we knew that it was progressing, and you don’t expect the people who are taking care of her in whatever capacity – her housecleaner, her caretaker, her lawn guy, her mailman, or anybody like that – to take advantage of them.”
She said she’s hoping there’s action on the case at Danley’s scheduled Dec. 15 court appearance. She wants a judge to tell Danley to enter a plea, she said.
“To watch the people who she is friendly with and is nice to and is kind to, (to) take such advantage, it’s heartbreaking for her,” da Fonte said.
Danley spoke with The Valley Indy Nov. 7 and said he is looking for a lawyer.
“I’m going to talk to one more lawyer prior to going back. I’m hoping that I can have the funds available to pay her back in full by the next court date, is what I’m hoping for. And I’m working, I’m working on that. It’s not a promise, but that’s my goal,” Danley said.
Danley said he’s talked with two attorneys so far and that he’s considering representing himself. He said he doesn’t want to spend money on a lawyer when he is already in debt to da Fonte’s mother.
“I am going to talk with another lawyer. I may or may not. I have a lawyer in mind. I may hire him, I may not hire him,” Danley said. “I may just represent myself when I go back to the next court date, but I’m hoping that I can come up with the full funds to pay her back.”
Danley said he doesn’t believe his actions constituted a crime, and that the case should have been brought in civil court instead of criminal court.
He also said the loans that da Fonte’s mother gave him were done transparently, pointing to the fact that there was a written record of each payment. He said he wasn’t aware of da Fonte’s mother’s dementia diagnosis at the time of his arrest.
Danley told The Valley Indy his original plan was to sell the home that the loans were written for, and to pay back da Fonte’s mother afterward.
Da Fonte reached out to The Valley Indy after seeing Danley was on the ballot in Ansonia, she said. Danley had run for Second Ward Alderman as a petitioning candidate, receiving two votes, according to unofficial results from the state.
Danley also ran for mayor as a petitioning candidate in 2023. His next court date is Dec. 15 at Superior Court in Derby.