Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Wise County home health nurse convicted of stealing from elderly woman



WISE COUNTY, VA (WJHL) –  A home health nurse pleaded guilty to stealing from an elderly patient in southwest Virginia. Wendy Goad, 38 of Comfort, WV, pleaded guilty to charges Thursday in Wise County.

Those charges include grand larceny, credit card fraud, attempted credit card fraud, and credit card forgery.

Prosecutors say Goad was caring for an elderly woman back in July when she stole several items and used the victim’s bank card to purchase nearly $500 worth of merchandise for herself.

Goad is scheduled to be sentenced March 14.

The following is a new release  from Wise County Commonwealth Attorney Chuck Slemp:

Wendy Goad, age 38 of Comfort, West Virginia, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, January 10, 2018, in the Wise County Circuit Court, for Grand Larceny, Credit Card Fraud, Attempted Credit Card Fraud, and Credit Card Forgery. Her plea comes on the day she was scheduled to go to trial on the charges.

Goad pleaded guilty without a plea agreement from prosecutors, meaning a judge will determine her sentence after listening to the testimony of witnesses for prosecutors and the defendant at a hearing.

On or about July 20, 2017, Wendy Goad was working as a substitute home health care nurse in Wise County, Virginia. While working to care for an elderly woman, Goad took two bags of items belonging to the victim out of her house. Then she took the elderly victim to another location and came back while the victim was not at her residence to remove more items from the house.

The victim also gave Goad her bank card to buy six grocery items. However, Goad used the card at multiple locations. Specifically, Goad signed the victim’s name and got $495 of items at WalMart. Goad later returned and attempted to use the card at WalMart again, but this attempt failed.

This prosecution was successfully brought to a conclusion through the efforts of Commonwealth’s Attorney Chuck Slemp and assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Ken Lammers.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Chuck Slemp said, “We continue our efforts to protect seniors from abuse and financial exploitation crimes. It is even more troubling in cases like this, when a nurse is being paid to provide medical care for someone and violates that trust by exploiting the vulnerability of an elderly victim.”

Full Article & Source:
Wise County home health nurse convicted of stealing from elderly woman

1 comment:

  1. Home Health shares responsibility in these types of cases if they don't do background checks. They can't stop their employees from stealing but because of the nature of their business, they must be sure to do background checks and thoroughly bond their employees to protect the public.

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