Police: Home health care worker stole cash from 82-year-old woman's purse
A home health care worker stole cash from the purse of the 82-year-old woman the worker was caring for, Ypsilanti police said Monday.
Detective Sgt. Tom Eberts said police responded were called to a home in the 1600 block of Huron River Drive at 4 p.m. Sunday to investigate a complaint about the theft. The woman told police the worker stole “a couple hundred bucks” from her purse, Eberts said.
The report on the incident was not finished Monday morning and information on the suspect was not immediately available, Eberts said. However, the suspect is known to police and the investigation is continuing.
Further information on the incident was not available Monday.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
mady
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 5:52 p.m.
@A2comments, my sister-in-law not only reported it to the police, but also the company the woman worked for and this you-know-what promptly lost her job. Occasionally, justice prevails.
A2comments
Wed, Mar 6, 2013 : 2:34 p.m.
Good to hear!
hmsp
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 2:51 p.m.
@ missmisery, re: "This is an elder abuse issue, not a union issue." A situation which would be greatly improved by: * Creating a registry. * Providing background checks. * Providing training. * Establishing a union shop. But I guess you're right –– some people will always hire scabs, and continue to get what they pay for.
Sue
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 11:13 p.m.
They were not paying for a thief to rob them, people with no morals will rob whether they belong to a union or not. In fact those self employed are less likely since there is nobody covering their backs. There are many good, honest, caring, private (not from an agency) home health care providers who have more integrity and go the extra mile than those whose jobs are protected by the strong arm of their unions.
missmisery
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 12:11 p.m.
Many of you are assuming the home care worker/thief was working for an agency. Many don't work for agencies, hear about work from friends/family/craigslist and take on individual jobs. This is an elder abuse issue, not a union issue.
A2comments
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 11:41 a.m.
When strangers are coming into the home, family members should remove valuables. Our elderly relatives used to keep thousands of cash around. It's now in the bank, they use credit cards for everything, and all bills and banking statements come to us.
A2comments
Wed, Mar 6, 2013 : 2:33 p.m.
Sooze: I guess you missed where I said "all bills and banking statements come to us". Nothing gets on the charge we don't see - in fact I get an email for EVERY transaction and call them if anything looks astray, then verify everything with receipts regularly. And my wife is on the account so she can call it if she has to.
Sooze
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 2:08 p.m.
Careful: an elderly friend had her credit card stolen by an in-home caregiver and didn't realize it until her bill had many charges on it she never could have made. Took many hours for her elderly husband to get it all straightened out.
hmsp
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 11:43 p.m.
@ cinnabar, re: "We voted against unions, not background checks. If unions would not have been involve (sic) it would have passed." Actually, you voted specifically against: * Creating a registry. * Providing background checks. * Providing training. And oh, yeah, you also voted against unions, which adds up to pretty much the same thing.
Sue
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 11:07 p.m.
no, we voted against unions. Introduce a bill with all the other 3 things you listed and I guarantee it will pass.
eldegee
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 10:41 p.m.
Same thing happened in TN to my grandmother in 1988 and my mother in 2008. Different nursing homes, too. From talking with other families, this sort of thing is quite common, unfortunately.
Detached Observer
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 9:46 p.m.
The fact that we pay the minimum wage to those who care for our elderly shows how much we value our elderly. Higher wages would attract a higher caliber of person. These sorts of thefts are the norm. That's how my grandmother lost her wedding ring.
TheDiagSquirrel
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 9:13 p.m.
As long as there are vulnerable people, there will always be people attempting to take advantage of them. The nursing home profit machine is but one egregious example.
Lloyd Payer
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 9 p.m.
You just voted for no back ground checks know you got what you asked for
Basic Bob
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 12:16 a.m.
Unions would have actually prevented background checks, and we didn't feel comfortable with taking away those protections.
cinnabar7071
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 9:48 p.m.
We voted against unions, not background checks. If unions would not have been involve it would have passed.
mady
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 6:47 p.m.
Unfortunately, this kind of stuff happens a lot more than we'd like to think. My mom(may she rest in peace amen!) was getting ripped off by a home healthcare aide, fortunately my sister-in-law figured out what was going on, and confronted her. she left abruptly......Good thing my dad wasn't around to see it, I shudder to think of the resulting explosion!
A2comments
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 11:39 a.m.
She should have reported the crime to the police to stop it from happening to someone else.
hmsp
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:21 p.m.
@ Go Navy: Pretty sketchy logic there. And we'd be much better off if all of our taxis were gypsy taxis, right? No structure, no organization, no regulation... Ah, yes! The Free Market is such a beautiful thing!
GoNavy
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:40 p.m.
@hmsp: I enjoy hypocritical logic critique from those lacking skill in the art of its usage. "No regulation!" "No structure!" "Free Market!" Weak, weak sauce. Or straw men.
Concerned Neighbor
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:20 p.m.
Sad but true, it happened to my in laws in Ga. too.
dougfair
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:01 p.m.
It's tough to get good help these days! Incidents like this are why background checks and registration of home health workers need to be done. There are many caring, honest hard working home health workers - they are besmirched by scum such as this suspect.
Basic Bob
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:50 p.m.
Just as you besmirch a person not charged with a crime.
tdw
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 4:40 p.m.
Not trying to stir things up but do home health care workers have to pass a background check ?
Sue
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 11:04 p.m.
to those of you who are blaming it on the fact that the the health care worker bill was turned down, it was not because of the proposal of background checks that it was turned down. It was because of the unionization of home health care that it was turned down, and rightfully so. I am a home health care provider, and I voted against it because raising the rates too high would leave many of the people we care for unable to afford to hire us.
sayzme
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 7:09 p.m.
Yes it was part of the prop 4 bill that did not pass....most people saw home health care workers trying to unionize as "evil" and "greedy" and sadly it didn't pass. Theft from an old person is a despicable act, but when you are making minimum wage caring for someone's life, the temptation will be there. Too bad that prop 4 didn't pass, it might have quelled some of this kind of stuff. http://www.freep.com/article/99999999 /NEWS15/120927094/Proposal-4 -Constitutional-Amendment-on- Home-Health-Care-Workers
WalkingJoe
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:47 p.m.
My wife worked in home health care and I believe it depended on the agency. She worked for a couple of different ones and they did background checks. But that was a a few years back.
slave2work
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:37 p.m.
wasn't that part of a bill we voted on that got turned down?..
Kyle Feldscher
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:27 p.m.
I honestly don't know tdw, I'll check it out.
GoNavy
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 4:40 p.m.
And don't forget, folks, that we almost voted into law the right for these workers to unionize. At this moment, we'd be dealing with this worker's union reps and lawyers, and she'd be back to work tomorrow picking pockets. If this is all true, of course. Just going on what the police have said here.
Buckybeaver
Tue, Mar 5, 2013 : 2:45 p.m.
Navy is 100% right, regardless of background check, if this crime was commited...the union would be brought into the fray.
drew_blows
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 7:48 p.m.
Or perhaps if the unionization of home care workers had gone through he or she would have been disqualified during the application process.
WalkingJoe
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:52 p.m.
Sorry, just looked at the article and it didn't say if it was a male or female, didn't mean to jump to conclusions.
WalkingJoe
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 5:50 p.m.
@GoNavy, even without the union if she is charged she is entitled to a lawyer as per our criminal justice system.
tdw
Mon, Mar 4, 2013 : 4:35 p.m.
If true that's pretty low