The caregiver of an elderly woman from Mahanoy City was charged with theft after she admitted to stealing over $2,000 from her.
According to the Mahanoy City Police Patrolman Thomas Rentschler, on Monday, Eric "Celine" Roberts, 28, of Mahanoy City, was charged with 17 counts of forgery, accessing a device issued to another and did not have authorized use, theft by unlawful taking, and receiving stolen property.
The charges stem from an investigation by Mahanoy City Police and the Schuylkill County Office of Senior Services. The investigation led to the finding that Roberts had been writing checks and using the credit card of an 87 year old woman that she was the caretaker of.
When police questioned the victim, she said Roberts did not have permission.
In reviewing bank records and ATM withdrawal photos, police found that Roberts used the victim's credit card on 13 different occasions between August 16th, 2021 and October 31st, 2021 totaling $695. Roberts also wrote checks for cash on 17 different occasions between September 27th, 2021 and October 29th, 2021 totaling $1,590. In total, the investigation found that Roberts took $2,285 through unauthorized transactions.
Police later questioned Roberts where she told police that she helped the victim for approximately 2 years pay her bills and bought money orders for her on her behalf.
When Police told Roberts that they had all of the transactions records, she admitted that having access to the victim's accounts "got the best of me".
Police were able to obtain the victim's check book from Roberts but not the credit card because she admitted to cutting up the credit cards.
Roberts was arraigned Wednesday afternoon by Magisterial District Judge Kilker and released on $25,000 unsecured bail.
A Preliminary Hearing is scheduled for January 6th, 2022 before Judge Kilker.