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| Police help elderly woman get back items stolen by a caregiver |
EL PASO, Texas (CBS4) — Predators disguised as caregivers may be targeting your aging mother and father.
Detectives with the El Paso Police Department's Special Victims Unit investigate hundreds of these cases each year.
The CBS Problems Solvers sat down with a victim's daughter whom police were able to help. Our team found out these cases can be tricky and the criminals, detectives warn, can move in on your family real fast.
Vulnerable, helpless, trusting -- those are just some of the words Detective Diane Mack uses to describe victims of elder abuse.
"We handle cases of financial exploitation and physical abuse of the elderly and disabled," Mack said.
She's been a detective with the Special Victims Unit for 10 years. She has investigated cases involving home health care, nursing homes and foster homes.
"A lot of times, they don't realize that they're actually being victimized,” Mack said.
CBS4 Problem Solver Concetta Callahan asked, “So it's someone else that reports the crime that's happening to this elderly person?”
And Mack replied, “That's correct."
Mack said most of the cases she sees are crimes committed by home health care providers because they have access to the aging person's personal property and personal identification cards.
Marian Ross said it happened to her mother.
"That was scary that she was able to come in and manipulate the strongest woman I know," said Ross.
“My dad passed away and my sister and my mom were talking about getting jewelry out to wear for my dad's services."
Ross said the situation was a living nightmare for her mother, who is in her 80s.
"There's my dad lying in his casket without his wedding ring," Ross said.
It only took the caregiver a couple of months to take advantage of Ross' mother. The investigation and litigation spanned two years.
Mack said the caregiver, her daughter and the daughter's boyfriend were all arrested for theft. The caregiver was convicted of stealing $80,000 worth of jewelry from the home.
"My dad brought my mom things from Vietnam -- 18-karat gold and sapphire, their 25th wedding ring gone, their original wedding sets, lots of jewelry that we can't even replace," said Ross.
Family photos and old-fashioned detective work got the Ross family some retribution.
"In this particular case, Mrs. Ross had a lot of photographs of her wearing the jewelry, so it really assisted in my investigation. These are some of the jewelry pieces that we recovered from local pawn shops, and also from search warrants we executed," Mack said as she showed the jewelry that was recovered.
Unfortunately, what was returned to the family wasn't even a fraction of what was stolen. Ross said her mother had a rule that's getting the family through this horrible ordeal.
"Her rule was: There's no whining and we don't just cry about nothing," Ross said.
"She was the cool mom that everyone wanted to spend time with," Ross said as she showed off a cellphone video of her mother saying, "Put your hands on your hips and let your backbone slip."
If you're looking to hire a caregiver, detectives say it is best to go through an agency. Agencies are required by state law to run criminal background checks on the home health care providers they hire. If you end up going with an independent caregiver, make sure you get a photocopy of the person's identification. That way, if something goes wrong, police can identify the person.
The daughters of the victim, in this case, came up with a checklist for families who have a caregiver enter their home:
- Check the insurance of the company to be sure it is in line with the state.
- Check that your personal homeowners insurance has a rider to cover valuables such as jewelry, furs and other items.
- Drop in unannounced when the caregiver is working, to make sure they are working.
- Remove valuables from the home or place them in a home safe.
- Monitor conversations. ; Listen for clues that may be a warning, such as the caregiver stating that they would never have anyone come into their home to care for their relative.
- Take pictures and locate receipts of valuables.
Police help elderly woman get back items stolen by a caregiver
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