Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Roseburg caregiver accused of stealing more than $73K from patient

Alicia Lee Buford
A Roseburg caregiver was arrested Friday, accused of stealing more than $73,000 from her patient.

Alicia Lee Buford, 66, reportedly accessed the victim’s bank account and checkbooks to swindle the funds over the course of the past two years, according to a court document.

The victim told police that she had recently discovered a number of fraudulent charges to her bank account. A security feature built into her checking account only allowed for transfers when that account balance dropped to a certain amount, and the victim told police that she believed there should have been “a significant amount more” in that account than required for the transfer.

After requesting all account statements from 2020 and 2021, the victim told police that she found more than $73,000 in fraudulent charges in that time frame, the court document stated.

Most of those charges were made with the use of a debit card that the victim said she never used, and had never activated. The victim said she had received the debit card in the mail and “had not seen it in years.” Other fraudulent charges were reportedly made with forged checks out of the same account.

Officers located video surveillance from several Roseburg businesses — including two popular Oregon Lottery video lottery parlors — and identified Buford as the suspect.

Buford was arraigned in Douglas County Circuit Court Monday and charged with first-degree aggravated theft, computer crime and fraudulent use of a credit card. Bail was set at $20,000, and Buford posted a $2,000 security release Tuesday.

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