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Clearwater nursing home employee arrested for stealing hundreds from blind man she was caring for

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Published  September 5, 2024 6:13am EDT
Clearwater
FOX 13 News

Nursing home caretaker accused of stealing money

Clearwater police say a nursing home employee spent hundreds of dollars on DoorDash, Amazon and Lyft rides – but the money wasn’t hers.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A Clearwater nursing home employee spent hundreds in stolen money on DoorDash, Amazon purchases, and even Lyft rides.

Detectives with the Clearwater Police Department say the money wasn’t hers and that the employee stole it from the very person she was supposed to be caring for.

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"I feel like that she exploited the person that's very vulnerable in a vulnerable state," said Sgt. Sergio Fidelis.

Police arrested Shanique Decordova for exploitation of the elderly. Detectives say it's an enhanced charge because she was a caretaker.

Decordova worked at Harbourwood Health and Rehab as a nursing assistant and cared for an elderly man who was blind and disabled.

They say the victim's daughter noticed unusual charges on her father’s credit card.

Detectives found in December 2023 she racked up almost a thousand dollars in charges,  paying her utility bills, Lyft rides, DoorDash orders, Amazon and even sending money to family in Jamaica.

The victim ended up dying at the hospital at the end of last year.

After getting subpoenas and tracing the transactions, investigators arrested Decordova last week.

"We confirmed that everything was under her name," said Fidelis. "Then, we confronted her and read her rights, and she admitted that she utilized those services but denied knowledge of the victim and also denied knowledge that she even made those transactions utilizing that credit card."

Florida has one of the largest populations of seniors in the country. Elderly law attorneys estimate one in five will be a victim of exploitation

Detectives said to protect your loved ones, store important and financial documents in a safe place, stay vigilant on your loved ones' transactions and designate a power of attorney.

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"The power of attorney is a big deal because if you are able to not only make transactions for your family, but also have the information, they can share information with you on your cell phone. There's many apps that you can have alerts for any transactions that are current. If anything's suspicious, you can respond to it right away," said Fidelis.

At this point, authorities are still working on getting the victim's money returned to his family. FOX 13 also reached out to the nursing home but did not hear back.