Woman accused of befriending disabled Miami-Dade man, stealing his home

by Chris Gothner

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – An investigation that began nearly five years ago led to the arrest of a woman on grand theft, fraud and exploitation charges after authorities said she befriended an intellectually disabled Miami-Dade man, acted as his caregiver and then stole — and later sold — his home.

Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies took Madeline Lostal-Furst, 56, of Limon, Colorado, into custody at Miami International Airport on Thursday under an arrest warrant.

According to a Sept. 4, 2024 arrest warrant, the 59-year-old victim is “functionally illiterate” and a judge has deemed him “totally incapacitated” due to his intellectual disability.

Lostal-Furst is accused of obtaining a power of attorney over the man and then transferring his home, in the 14500 block of Southwest 291st Street in the unincorporated Leisure City area, to herself using a quit claim deed in 2019. She then sold it to an investor in February 2022 for $190,000, the warrant states.

The victim had inherited the home from his brother in 2014, according to the warrant.

Authorities said the victim’s sister contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families in April 2020 to report that he was being “exploited” and that she believed his “life was in danger.”

The victim’s sister told DCF workers that a woman, later identified as Lostal-Furst, “posed as his girlfriend and moved into his home” a year prior, the warrant states.

The man’s health had “declined significantly” to the point where he had lost weight and was hospitalized more than 20 times, investigators said she told DCF workers.

“It was believed that the girlfriend was poisoning him or messing with his medications,” the warrant states.

According to the warrant, the man’s sister told DCF workers that Lostal-Furst was “trying to place him into a facility” after stealing his home.

In August 2020, the victim’s sister again called the DCF and reported that Lostal-Furst was locking him out of his home and leaving him outside on the porch.

She said earlier that month, Lostal-Furst dropped him off on the streets of Gainesville, where emergency workers found him wandering, authorities said. He was taken to a hospital and held under the Baker Act and then transferred to an assisted living facility in DeLand, where he’s remained, the warrant states.

Investigators later interviewed the southwest Miami-Dade attorney who prepared the quit claim deed, which was signed on Christmas Eve 2019. He said he asked the victim separately “and asked him if this is what he wanted,” the warrant states.

According to the warrant, the attorney told investigators that the man said he “understood” what he was signing and said it was what he wanted. But authorities said the man “could not have known or understood what he was signing.”

By September 2024, Lostal-Furst was believed to be living out-of-state.

Online records indicate that she appeared in Lincoln County, Colorado court on Feb. 14 for an extradition hearing.

Now back in South Florida, Lostal-Furst was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $45,000 bond, Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation records show.

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Woman accused of befriending disabled Miami-Dade man, stealing his home

Caretaker charged with spending thousands of dollars with dementia patient's debit card

by LENNY COHEN

Sandra Jean Yeager was charged with grand theft of between $750 and $5,000, and with exploitation of an elderly person, Jan. 26, 2024. (Sumter Co. Sheriff's Office)

WILDWOOD, Fla. (TND) — A woman in Florida who helped take care of an elderly man with dementia is accused of taking care of herself with his debit card, big time.

There's a long list of places she allegedly spent money with his that card, and she's charged with two felonies.

According to her arrest report, “The victim's son stated that his father was showing signs of dementia and stated he could not operate the TV remote, could no longer utilize his smartphone, and could not even use the phone to call him.

“It was unknown to him that his father had given the defendant the debit card.”

A Wildwood police officer reported going to Sandra Jean Yeager's home early on Jan. 26, and wrote, “The defendant admitted that she used the victim's card to purchase items without prior approval, but stated that it was only a few items.

“The defendant stated that some items she was given permission to purchase and paid back,” the report continued, “but was unable to provide receipts or any information showing that this took place.”

The arrest report listed many visits to several stores, starting with various Walmart locations, gathered from spending with the card.

Sandra Jean Yeager's arrest report includes a list of 20 dates from October through December that she visited a single Walmart in The Villages, spending a total of $1,132.46 there, Jan. 26, 2024. (Wildwood Police Dept.)

First, there are 20 dates from October through December that she visited a single Walmart in The Villages, spending a total of $1,132.46 there.

Separately, it lists the same store a second time on Nov. 14, for a total of $191.53.

Sandra Jean Yeager's arrest report continues with more spending she allegedly made, coming to a grand total of $3,486.64, Jan. 26, 2024. (Wildwood Police Dept.)

The next page lists nine visits to five other Walmarts, along with multiple visits to eight other shops, and online with Google.

The total came to $3,486.64, according to the arrest report.

Yeager was charged with grand theft of between $750 and $5,000, and with exploitation of an elderly person. Both are felonies.

She was booked later in the morning of Jan. 26, and spent 26 hours in jail before her release.

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Caretaker charged with spending thousands of dollars with dementia patient's debit card

99-year-old woman in quarantine, but nurse went on a spending spree, police say

A 99-year-old woman has remained isolated for months in a Sarasota assisted living facility due to the coronavirus pandemic, but her credit card was being used all over Manatee and Sarasota counties since early July.

According to Sarasota police, a 29-year-old nurse who worked at the nursing home is responsible.

Police say Yolanda Taite made multiple purchases of more than $2,000, including at a liquor store and nail salon.

Detectives launched an investigation in early July after family members of the elderly woman noticed multiple charges to the victim’s credit card, knowing it was not possible for her to be out of the assisted living facility during the pandemic.

Charges were made at local restaurants, clothing stores and retail outlets in both Bradenton and Sarasota.

Detectives began following the trail of expenditures and collected video surveillance of the transactions.

The videos showed Taite and an unknown male suspect in some of the transactions, on her own, with another female, and with a group of children during other transactions.

While making purchases with the unidentified male suspect, he used a credit card of an 85-year-old elderly male who also lives at the same nursing home where Taite worked, according to the Sarasota police report. She was terminated upon her arrest.

According to the arrest report, Taite later used that same card at a nail salon and when questioned about the male’s name on the card she was using to pay for services, told the employee, “It belongs to a guy I take care of,” according to the report.

Detectives say on the video at a local liquor store, Taite is wearing her work name tag.

The name of the facility was not released, but police say Taite began to work there in February 2019. Management told police that Taite had full access to patients’ rooms where credit cards and Social Security cards are accessible.

Taite was charged with two counts of grand theft from a person over the age of 65, and an arrest warrant has been issued for her to additionally charge her with elderly exploitation after a third family has come forward with a similar complaint.

The investigation is ongoing and detectives believe there may be additional victims. A search for the male suspect also is underway.

Anyone with information is asked to call Sarasota Police Detective Jessica Sullivan at 941-263-6070 or call Crime Stoppers at 941-366-TIPS.

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99-year-old woman in quarantine, but nurse went on a spending spree, police say

Former St. Pete Trust Attorney Charged With Grand Theft

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By Josh Rojas

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A former trust attorney is accused of stealing more than $278,000 from a trust account that he oversaw and was charged with grand theft on Monday, according to St. Petersburg Police.

• Darce Jay Snyder, 68, makes first court appearance
• Victim says she didn't notice money missing until last year
• Judge orders Snyder to surrender his passport
• More Pinellas County headlines

That former attorney, Darce Jay Snyder, 68, made his first appearance in court before a Pinellas Judge on Tuesday. Snyder told Judge Pat Siracusa that he didn’t have any money to hire an attorney and asked that his $150,000 bond be reduced.

“I haven’t worked in over two-and-a-half years. I actually have an interview today for a census job,” he said. “They were giving me a call. So, I’m in pretty dire straits right now, your honor.”

Judge Siracusa denied Snyder’s request and kept the bond at the same amount.

According to an arrest affidavit, Snyder was in charge of a trust account that was originally valued at more than $700,000. Police said in 2015, Snyder stole $278,690 from the victim’s account by writing checks to himself.

The victim, Valerie Sexton-Maher, 50, said she didn’t notice the money was missing until last year because she could not take control of the trust account until she turned 50 years old.

“Unfortunately, you can’t always trust a trustee on an account,” she said. “They are very good at hiding money.”

Sexton-Maher said there isn’t any money left in her account and prosecutors can’t charge Snyder for stealing the entire amount because of the statute of limitations.

“What he was charged with is not the full extent of what he took from me,” she said. “At the beginning of the trustee account, there was close to a million dollars in it and that was when my mother passed away in 2001. So, at a conservative rate of interest we would be talking about millions.”

In 2018, The Florida Supreme Court revoked Snyder’s license to practice law after the attorney was accused of withdrawing $1 million in advance fees from another client without his authorization.

Sexton-Maher said she lives in the Jacksonville area and didn’t find out about Snyder’s disciplinary revocation, which is tantamount to disbarment, until last year.

“It’s beyond upsetting. It makes me sad that unfortunately my mother trusted this person and thought that he was going to do the right thing for me,” she said. “I’ve prided myself on not touching any money from that trust until I needed it… I planned on using it for my retirement. I’ve had some health issues in the last couple of years and… that money would be a big deal for me now and I don’t have it.”

Sexton-Maher said she’s speaking out publicly to try and prevent this from happening to anyone else.

The judge also ordered Snyder to surrender his passport after the prosecutor told him that the defendant has the means and the ability to travel internationally.

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Former St. Pete Trust Attorney Charged With Grand Theft

FDLE: Florida exotic dancer swindled elderly man out of $51,000

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - An exotic dancer moved in with an elderly man she met while working then stole more than $38,000 from him, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Investigators said one of the man's family members contacted them in May to report the exploitation.

Chalsey O'Brien, 27, was found to have moved into the man's Volusia County home in 2018 after meeting him at the club where she worked, a news release said. Between September 2018 and May, she withdrew $38,448.80 in cash from the man's checking account and made unauthorized transfers, according to authorities.

Agents said she used the victim's debit card and other personal information to order $12,951.94 worth of merchandise, which she then sold for cash.

O'Brien also transferred money from the man's money market account to his checking account by phone so he wouldn't discover the theft, records show.

O'Brien was arrested Wednesday on a charge of grand theft of a victim over 65 and criminal use of personal identification information of a victim over 60. She's being held at the Volusia County Jail.

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FDLE: Florida exotic dancer swindled elderly man out of $51,000

Woman Arrested For Allegedly Bilking An Elder’s Benefits

Mia Rodriguez

Sonora, CA – A caretaker-conservator who allegedly channeled her charge’s benefits was arrested for felony elder crimes.

Tuolumne County Sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Andrea Benson says in July of last year, 32-year-old Mia Rodriguez of Sonora, was removed from caring for an elderly dependent adult. However, she continued to receive the victim’s social security and other benefits totaling thousands of dollars.

Following an investigation, Rodriguez was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Tuolumne County Jail on charges of grand theft and theft from an elder or dependent adult. She was assigned a $20,000 bail.

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Woman Arrested For Allegedly Bilking An Elder’s Benefits