Caregiver at Palos Heights memory care facility charged in theft from elderly couple

by Nuha Abdessalam

A gold necklace with a diamond pendant, unauthorized charges to a credit card, pawn shop transactions, and utility bills paid in someone else’s name.

That’s what police uncovered in a July investigation into a theft from an elderly resident of Arden Courts Memory Care in Palos Heights and the resident’s husband.

Palos Heights Deputy Police Chief John Parnitzke said officers were called July 1 to Arden Courts Memory Care, 7880 W. College Dr., when the resident reported the necklace missing.

The victim’s husband soon noticed several charges he hadn’t made – payments to Nicor Gas, Comcast cable, and a local pawn shop.

Detectives reviewed footage provided by the pawn shop, where an employee said the suspect sold the necklace and used the victim’s credit card to pay off a store balance. 

Records from Nicor and Comcast linked the accounts to the same person in the video: Olufunke Toogun, 49, of Chicago Heights.

On Aug. 11, investigators met with Arden Courts management, who confirmed Toogun worked there. She was arrested two days later and charged with aggravated identity theft. 

Toogun has been released pending a court date at the Bridgeview Courthouse.

Parnitzke confirmed the necklace and pendant have been recovered and will be returned to the couple. The credit card charges, he said, will likely be reversed. “Once there’s a report and an arrest made, they don’t hold them to those charges,” he said.

Police said no other complaints involving Toogun were reported by residents or families before or after the arrest. “We haven’t had any second cases,” Parnitzke said.

However, he added that crimes like this aren’t rare in care settings. “These medical facilities, they do background checks, there might not be anything on there, but it just takes these incidents and these arrests to prevent them from continuing in this career.”

For families, Parnitzke recommends practical steps: keep a record and photographs of valuables, limit what’s brought into the facility, and keep an eye on bank and credit card accounts.

“The minute you see activity that doesn’t make sense, question it with your loved one,” he said.

He noted the department also tries to get the word out through community talks, social media, local cable, and city council meetings. 

“Not everyone monitors the same things you and I do, so it’s about getting awareness on different platforms.” 

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Caregiver at Palos Heights memory care facility charged in theft from elderly couple