Theft

[muzzleblast525]

I don't want to offend anybody here, and haven't really had to deal with any family living at these facilities, and this if from a proffessional standpoint.

Why do family members allow their loved ones to take expensive jewlery into these type of facilities? My supervisor came to me today with a "hot diamond case." Turns out it had good information and I was able to recover a $35,000 dollar diamond from the suspect and arrest her. Seems like an 80 year-old woman "lost" her diamond last weekend and nobody was able to locate it. Thank goodness for some honest woman who called and told an officer that she overheard a friend talking about taking a stolen diamond to Louisiana to sell, and bragged about stealing other jewels from the assisted living facility where she works. We moved in on it pretty quick and got her picked up for some unpaid traffic tickets and she took us to her house where we located the diamond. We've also located about ten other rings and such at various pawnshops that her mother, who also works at the facility, has pawned.

These two are probably responsible for about 20 thefts in the last month, and most of these rings haven't even been noticed missing by the resident or their families.

Anyway, I've gotten it off my chest for now..... 

[EVOC ONE]

That's something every L.E officers wonders each time they have to take a report from such a facility. 

Haven taken a few reports myself before I retired. These crimes used to irk me to no end.  Something about taking advantage of an individual who cannot defend or help themselves. 

I've had occasion to speak with some of the residents.  Many of them are still sharp and see whats going on.  They will sometimes give a heads up on who the dirtballs of the facility are.  Others are frightened of retaliation. 

Its a sad, sad affair.

Hopefully there will be some jail time for those involved with your incident.  Good job to everyone involved.

And ... Its good to vent every now and again.

 

[rockbilly]

Someone stole my Mother's check book from the nursing home.  Luckily we had set a limit on the amount a check could be written for, and limited the amount held in the account.  The person was caught, she turned out to be "one of the better nurses" that had been taking care of Mom for the past eighteen months.  She wrote a check for an amount well over the amount in the account at a high end department store.  They accepted the check with no picture ID, just the word of the nurse that the name on the check was her.  Her picture was recorded on a closed circuit TV, and she was identified by the detective that worked the case from his meeting her at the nursing home while taking a report from Mom.  She had to make restitution, and served two years for theft by deception.

I agree, and speak form experience, patients in nursing homes should not keep large amounts of money, credit cards, or expensive jewelry.  If you have relatives there, you need to check it out, or have someone the patient trust do it.  An ounce of prevention......................

[Almtnman]

My wife's Mother died in the hospital back a few years after she had been taken through the emergency room. They had removed her jewelery on arrival and place it in a sealed envelope. Immediately after her death, a nurse told us that we better get to the emergency room fast and retrieve her jewelery or it might be gone forever. We went immediately and asked for it and they couldn't seem to locate it. We insisted and was standing our ground on getting it then. Finally after about 20 or 30 minutes they brought it to us and the sealed envelope had already been torn open. We were certain that it was in the process of being taken and we might have caught it just before as the envelope wasn't supposed to be opened. The nurse that had told us that also told us that when people suddenly died in the hospital, their secured jewelry came up missing all the time.

[Dusty Miller]

I'm one of those people who basically has a negative outlook when it comes to the human race and this sort of thing does not surprise me at all.  Yeah, there's a lot of nice people on the planet but about 90% of the world's population will steal you blind if they think they can get away with it.