Berkeley nursing home employee accused of defrauding 2 seniors
BERKELEY – A nursing assistant at a Berkeley elder care home has been arrested for allegedly defrauding two seniors who had stayed at the facility.
According to Berkeley Police, the suspect worked at the Kyakameena Care Center on Carleton Street and was arrested last Tuesday outside the facility on suspicion of identity theft, grand theft, financial elder abuse and unauthorized use of a debit card.
On September 23, the adult son of a 73-year-old woman being cared for at the facility alerted police that her month's debit card was stolen and was used more than 100 times between April and August of this year. The son told police that the charges totaled more than $10,000.
Police said the son realized there was an issue with his mother's accounts after finding out rent payments to her apartment were not being made due to lack of funds in her account.
Nearly a month later, police received another report of fraud from a man whose 70-year-old sister stayed at the Kyakameena Care Center before her death. The man said he found what was described as "numerous" fraudulent purchases that were made the week she died.
Investigators said they were able to link fraudulent purchases and cash withdrawals to the employee, identified as a 44-year-old woman.
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office has charged the woman with two counts of financial elder abuse by a caregiver and two counts of identity theft.
Police did not release the suspect's name.