Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies arrested 68-year-old Sandi Granat on charges of exploitation of a disabled adult on Friday.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office opened an investigation in August 2018 regarding a complaint from a woman who alleged her aunt's longtime bookkeeper/caregiver was stealing money from her aunt's accounts, according to an arrest report.
According to the report, Granat was a paid bookkeeper and caregiver for 98-year-old Adele Altman for 10 years. Altman is legally blind and required assistance with daily activities and so her family hired Granat to help with certain responsibilities two times a week and she was compensated on a weekly basis.
In 2017, the family noticed discrepancies in Altman's bank accounts, which were eventually traced back to Granat and prompted the family to fire her, according to the report. Altman also told investigators she wanted to press charges.
Investigators say Granat denied the exploitation charges during an interview and said that she had obtained permission from Altman and even had a signed letter from her saying she would give Granat money to help with financial problems she was facing because Granat was "family." During the interview, Granat insisted that Altman suffered from dementia and had trouble remembering things and would ask the same thing six or seven times, which was probably why Altman didn't recall the agreement or signing the letter saying that she would give Granat money.
During further investigation of the case, investigators did not find sufficient evidence to support Granat's claims of Altman suffering from dementia or memory loss, according to the arrest report.
Following the investigation and the contradiction of evidence and Granat's claims, investigators say there is probable cause to arrest Granat and charged her with exploitation of an elderly or disabled person.
Granat bonded out of jail on Saturday.
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Caregiver charged with exploitation of elderly, disabled woman
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