Phony Health Aide May Have Ripped Off Dozens of Homes, Cop Say

Lisa Kay Wiser-Serratore had her routine down.

Wearing hospital scrubs and posing as a home health worker, she’d walk up to homes she targeted for burglary and knock on the front doors. If no one was home, she’d walk around back and break in.

That’s according to St. Petersburg Police, who arrested Wiser-Serratore, 48, on Thursday in connection with five recent home burglaries. She’s also suspected in more than 30 burglaries in North St. Petersburg and a string of others outside the city, too.

Leads in the case came in from as far away as Oregon, an email from the police department said.

“A victim started seeing photos of a teenage girl appear on his iPad that was linked to an iPod stolen from his home in August,” the email said. “Using a photo of a partial plane ticket, police tracked down the girl, who had recently moved to Oregon.”

As it turns out, the girl recently moved to Oregon and told police her grandmother gave her the device.

The grandmother in question said she’d received the iPod in payment for a debt owed her by Wiser-Serratore.

Thanks to that break in the case, a surveillance operation began with Wiser-Serratore as the focus.

“On the second day of surveillance, they watched her knock on the front door of a home and go around the back, carrying two large bags,” police said. “She later exited through the front door and drove off.”

When officers stopped Wiser-Serratore’s car a few blocks away, they found prescription drugs, jewelry and electronics taken form the home. She admitted to police that she burglarized several homes to fund a prescription drug habit.

Detectives say Wiser-Serratore has pawned more than 120 pieces of jewelry throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. She was being held in the Pinellas County Jail Friday afternoon in lieu of $50,000 bond, jail records indicate.

Photo Credit: Pinellas County Jail