Caretaker grabs illegal ‘fringe benefits’
A Nevada City woman faces multiple charges after being arrested Thursday when investigators tied her to the illegal use of credit cards belonging to elderly care patients.
Samantha L. Lee is accused of using her position as a caretaker at a Grass Valley senior citizen care facility to pilfer the access cards, use each one multiple times, and pocket the proceeds.
Grass Valley Police Sgt. Jason Perry said the arrest came after detectives investigated multiple reports of such thefts from the local care facility.
The 19-year old Lee was booked into the Nevada County Jail on suspicion theft by use of access card, credit card fraud, receiving stolen property, forgery, burglary and embezzlement of the elderly.
Bail on the burglary charge was set at $50,000, with lesser amounts for the other charges.
Sgt. Perry cautions releatives and caregivers of the elderly to advise such patients against keeping credit cards, cash and valuables at their care facility rooms.
“Sometimes those patients don’t even realize that they’re being victimized, and the ones that do sometimes don’t report the crime because they feel the act may not have really happened,” Perry said.
