Affidavit: Woman assisting elderly person with broken hip stole $20,000 using blank checks

Cynthia Lynn Black

While assisting an 84-year-old who suffered a hip fracture, a woman reportedly stole over $20,000 using signed blank checks intended for the purchase of necessary items for the elderly woman.

Cynthia Lynn Black, 45, is charged with exploitation of an elderly individual – a third-degree felony.

She was out of the Wichita County Jail Thursday afternoon on $10,000 bail.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit:

A representative with Adult Protective Services reported a case of adult exploitation to the Burkburnett Police Department on Jan. 24.

APS turned over a large packet of information to detectives.

The intake documents stated that the victim had been living alone and managing her own finances when she suffered a hip fracture. She was moved into nursing home in Burkburnett.

The victim enlisted the services of Black as an assistant to run errands for her, including purchasing personal items for the victim. She said she would sign a blank check and give it to Black to makes these purchases.

In December of 2017, Black reportedly began writing checks of questionable amounts.

The APS investigator reviewed the victim's bank records and found $21,532.08 of questionable charges were taken from the victim's account over a four-month period.

The investigator asked the victim about the checks and the victim noted all of the checks that were unauthorized.

On Feb. 4, detectives went to the nursing home to speak to the victim.

The victim said Black had taken over $20,000 from her. She told detectives she would sign a blank check twice a week and give it to Black to purchase personal items that the victim needed.

She said Black was only supposed to go to Walmart or United Supermarkets to purchase items for the victim.

The victim said Black would bring her the things she needed but would pull the tags off them first and not give her a receipt.

She said she had no idea how much money Black had been taking out of her account because she was not getting her bank statements.

Black had reportedly changed Black's mailing address to have all of the victim's mail delivered to Black's address. The victim said Black was not bringing her the bank statements.

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Affidavit: Woman assisting elderly person with broken hip stole $20,000 using blank checks