Caregiver steals thousands from patient's home
November 26th, 2008 by Jennifer Walker-Journey
A former employee of the Cambridge Retirement Residence in Springfield, Mo., was so generous a caregiver that she helped the family of 88-year-old Blanche Fenton move out of home and into the Cambridge nursing home. And then she returned after family had left the house and raided it of various items, including cassette tapes, a slow cooker, clothing, silverware, lamps, jewelry and figurines, according to the News-Leader.
The caregiver was spotted by neighbors five to 10 times over the next several weeks carrying the items out of Fenton’s house by the armload. When questioned by neighbors, the caregiver said she was a friend of Fenton’s and was simply delivering Fenton’s winter wardrobe to her in the nursing home.
When Fenton’s brother went to his sister’s home, he noticed several items missing. He called the police and filed a report. Officers questioned the caregiver. In her car were several items, but no clothes. The suspect also had a key to the Fenton’s front door.
Police scoured pawn shop records and suspected at least three of the rings had been pawned. Several other pieces of jewelry remain missing. Family members put the price tag of the missing jewelry at about $20,000. A search warrant turned up so much of Fenton’s belongings officers had to execute a second search warrant to actually take possession of the items, according to the story.
As it turned out, the suspect had a prior felony stealing conviction. She was since fired from the nursing home and now faces burglary charges in the Cambridge Retirement Residence case.