Rincon Beat
Oct. 17, 5:43 p.m.
A professional personal-care assistant appeared as more of a "cash-taker" than a caretaker after she allegedly stole hundreds of dollars from right under the nose of the sick woman she was paid to help, according to a PCSD report.
The reportee told a deputy that ever since the hiring of her current caretaker a little less than a year ago, she'd noticed the subtle disappearance of miscellaneous personal items, including a $100 cast-iron skillet and "some cups her mother had given her"
She said family and friends sometimes visited her house, but nobody came regularly except the caretaker, and she hadn't recently had any break-ins.
She said her suspicions about her caretaker stealing had been confirmed a couple days ago, when the woman drove her to the bank, where the reportee withdrew about $360 cash and stashed it in an envelope. When they got home and the reportee was exiting the car, she said, she dropped the envelope and the caretaker picked it up quickly—only to put it in her own purse, allegedly saying snidely, "What envelope?" when the reportee asked her to return it.
When the deputy interviewed the caretaker by phone, she flatly denied stealing anything, from her sick charge, saying she was a "God-fearing woman." She said the reportee had also accused several other people of stealing, such as the landscaper and more than one locksmith—she even supposedly accused someone of drinking her Ensure nutritional shakes without permission.
The case was still open at the time of the report, since the reportee was the only witness to the alleged stealing of the $360.
