Caretaker accused of stealing nearly $60,000 from vulnerable Lincoln couple

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - A caretaker faces multiple charges after the man she cared for became alarmed by his credit card statements.

Karley Clark, 23, is charged with two counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult, two counts of theft by unlawful taking $5,000+ and second-degree forgery $5,000+.

On July 17, 2023, someone became concerned about two of their family members being financially exploited by a caretaker and called the Lincoln Police Department.

One of the victims, a 91-year-old Lincoln man, noticed multiple unauthorized transactions on his and his wife’s credit cards. The family reported that roughly $50,000 had been taken out in unauthorized purchases.

The victim and his wife lived together at an independent senior living apartment between June of 2022 and February of 2023. During that time, Clark provided care for the couple and fetched them groceries and other items when needed.

During those trips, the victim would provide Clark with one of their credit cards, cash or a check to pay for necessities. Later on in 2023, the victim began seeing larger than normal credit card balances, according to Clark’s arrest affidavit.

An investigation revealed that $20,904.55 had been charged to the victim’s card between Feb. 1, 2023 and July 31, 2023 between 224 unauthorized transactions, police wrote. Court records show his wife’s credit card had been wrongly used 353 times for a total of $31,645.78.

The victims’ banking accounts were also hit. Police think 15 checks were forged for a total of $5,650 in losses.

In total, police think at least $58,200.33 was stolen from the victims over the course of seven months. The cards had been used to purchases thousands of dollars in goods from Target, Lululemon, Amazon, HelloFresh and other shops, according to the affidavit.

A search warrant was later executed at Clark’s home in Hickman, and officers said they seized items that were wrongly purchased with the victims’ cards.

Clark was arrested on Thursday, and she was arraigned hours later. Her next court appearance is set for April 4.

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Caretaker accused of stealing nearly $60,000 from vulnerable Lincoln couple