Ex-Camillus House employee accused of stealing from homeless, elderly veteran

MIAMI - A former Camillus House employee is in jail after she was accused of scamming thousands of dollars from an elderly man she was hired to help.

"Only a heartless person can steal from a person like this, an elderly man who's homeless and is a veteran of this great country," said Miami-Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.  

She referred to the result of an investigation conducted by the Vulnerable Adult Unit (EVA), which led to the arrest of a 34-year-old, now former employee of Camillus House.   

"We announced the arrest of Tashia Raymond-Stackhouse and she stole money, she (financially) abused an elderly man," Fernandez Rundle said on Friday.  

According to the State Attorney's Office, the 84-year-old victim had been staying at Camillus House Humanitarian Services under the VA program, an initiative created to provide stability for veterans experiencing homelessness.  
"She convinced him that she needed to take care of his ATM card and she was going to protect it for him and of course, he wanted to believe her," said Fernandez Rundle adding, "He is homeless every penny he can get from SSI or the veterans he needs for stability for day-to-day survival."

The arrest warrant states that she transferred over $10,000 to her bank account. She paid over $4,000 for transactions with his card and she is accused of taking almost $15,000 from the victim.  

"The victim, in this case, could not speak for himself, (the incident) was caught by staff, other staff and administrators at Camillus House

Camillus did not grant interviews, they sent a statement saying:  "We are grateful to the Office of the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office for their quick and diligent investigation and subsequent arrest of a former employee after we uncovered and immediately reported what was clearly an effort to defraud an elderly and vulnerable individual under our care."

Tashia Raymond-Stackhouse is charged with:

• 1 count Exploitation of an elderly/disabled person
•                (2nd-degree felony)
• 1 count Grand Theft on a person over 65
•                (2nd-degree felony)
• 1 count Organized Scheme to defraud
•                (3rd-degree felony)
• 1 count Fraudulent Use of Personal Identification Information
•                 (3rd-degree felony)

According to the State Attorney's Office as of Friday evening, she continued behind bars at the Turner Guilford Detention Center.