Home health aide caught snooping around Fayette County home, family says
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Fayette County family is waiting for answers after their home health aide was caught on camera snooping through their things.
That aide is under investigation by her employer, Caring Mission Home Care, after videos show her with a flashlight apparently going through the family's things while she was supposed to be caring for her hospice patient.
"It went on for hours," said Terry Christopher, the patient's daughter. "She would pace around the kitchen looking at different things in my home. And then she started going through my cabinets, my drawers."
Christopher said her father, Roger Porter, was approved by the VA for 40 hours a week of home health care after going to hospice. That is when the family hired the home health aide, who started on July 29, to care for her father overnight.
KDKA-TV blurred her face and has chosen not to release her identity as charges have yet to be filed.
"When she got here initially, I told her I have a camera," Christopher said. "They record all the time. There's one right here in the kitchen, which I showed her, and then I showed her the one in his room also."
While Christopher and Porter were sleeping, she said her cameras caught the aide going through their things on her first night on the job.
"In the video, you can hear a knock something over and then she looks to see if she woke him up. And she did not. So, she continued to search," Christopher said.
The family said they feel violated and believe the aide should no longer have a job in home health.
"I don't want anyone else to have to go through this," Christopher said. "I don't want anyone to have to feel violated like I feel."
Caring Mission Home Care released a statement and said it has seen the videos and is concerned about the circumstances.
"Caring Mission Home Care is currently investigating the incident. It's a personnel issue and we cannot discuss that publicly at this time," the statement said, in part.