Home Care Worker Arrested For Alleged Identity Theft, Elder Abuse

BERKELEY, CA —A woman in Berkeley has been accused of defrauding elders in a nursing home, the police department said on Tuesday.

The 44-year-old nursing assistant was arrested on Nov. 22 for allegations of theft and fraudulent charges on the accounts of two people. Police have not released her name.

On Sept. 23, the adult son of a 73-year-old woman being cared for at Kyakameena Care Center on Carleton Street reporting finding that his mother's debit card had been stolen and used to make over 100 purchases and withdrawals between April and August of this year. Police allege there were over $10,000 worth of charges. The woman's son discovered the problem when his mother's rent check bounced.

On Oct. 20, the brother of a 70-year-old woman who had stayed at Kyakameena Care Center before she died reported finding numerous fraudulent purchases made the week that his sister passed.

Police claim they found numerous fraudulent online purchase as well as cash withdrawals to one of the employees at Kyakameena Care Center and traced it to the suspect.

On Nov. 22, Berkeley Police arrested the woman outside of the care center on suspicion of identity theft, grand theft, financial elder abuse by a caregiver and unauthorized use of an access/debit card. On Nov. 23, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office charged the woman with two counts of financial elder abuse by a caregiver and two counts of identity theft.

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