Assisted Living Manager Admits to Stealing Identities of Elderly

BALTIMORE, MD — The former manager of Holland Manor in Towson admitted he stole the identities of residents at the assisted living facility and used their personal information to open bank accounts.

Salah Eldean Sood, 35, of Lutherville, pleaded guilty Tuesday to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

From 2014 to 2016, Sood obtained six credit cards using the names of residents at the facility, adding himself as an authorized user on the accounts and making purchases totaling nearly $75,000, according to his plea agreement. Sood will be required to pay $74,753.24 in restitution.

In one case, the plea agreement states that Sood continued making purchases using a credit card in the name of a resident after the person died.

Authorities began investigating Sood and Holland Manor Eldercare after first responders twice found questionable conditions at the facility in 2015, the U.S. Attorney said.

In June 2015, a Holland Manor resident was taken to a local hospital with injuries that may have indicated a lack of proper medical care, officials said; the resident died two days later. In September 2015, state health officials revoked the Assisted Living Program License of Holland Manor Eldercare.

In December 2015, firefighters responded to a fire alarm and found no staff at the facility to care for the two residents there, one of whom was comatose and restrained in a bed on the second floor, according to the U.S. Attorney.

Authorities determined Sood used information from the second resident, who had a diminished mental condition, to open an account and charged $59,094.39.

Sood will serve 48 to 52 months in prison for the federal bank fraud and identity theft charges, to be determined by a judge at sentencing at 10 a.m. on March 30, 2017.

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