Nanaimo care aide accused of stealing has theft conviction

CHEK

WATCH: Last month, CHEK News told you about a Nanaimo man who was allegedly targeted by one of the care workers at his seniors residence. Nearly $600 is missing and that investigation is ongoing. Now CHEK News has learned that the same care worker pleaded guilty to stealing a ring from a resident at a different care home last year. Kendall Hanson has more. 

The family of a Nanaimo senior suspected he was being preyed upon by one of his care workers so they installed surveillance cameras after nearly $600 went missing earlier this year.

The images show her allegedly rummaging through a night stand she wasn’t supposed to and showing up for an unscheduled visit and rifling through a drawer.

READ MORE: RCMP and Island Health investigating after allegations of care aide stealing money from elderly man

Now CHEK News has learned the very same care worker had pleaded guilty to stealing a ring from an elderly woman last October while working at Wexford Creek in Nanaimo.

“She was preying on the most vulnerable,” said Mike Morrison, the woman’s husband.

One of the woman’s daughters noticed their 69-year old mother was no longer wearing her connected wedding/engagement ring and started checking pawn shops.

She tracked it down and found that the care aide had used her ID to sell it. It was then reported to RCMP.

“She should not work in that industry,” said Morrison, who declined an on camera interview. His wife also had a diamond pendant on a gold chain that went missing and was never found.

On July 11, the care aide was given a one-year conditional discharge for stealing the ring.

She would be allegedly caught in the act again the very next day.

“On the 12th is when she came in and took $300 from us and on the 13th she came back and took another 70 off us,” said Susan Tye, who learned of the connection, after going public about the alleged theft from her father. “So it wasn’t even 24 hours after she was sentenced and given the one-year probation that she was in our house stealing again.”

So how was she allowed to continue caring for seniors despite the theft?

Wexford Creek is not an Island Health facility and according to the agency, it was up to the woman to inform them of the conviction.

“As a condition of employment, employees are required to sign an agreement that if they are charged with, or convicted of, a relevant offence subsequent to the agreed upon criminal record check, they must disclose the charge or conviction to Island Health,” said a statement provided by Island Health.

The agency says that did not happen in this case.

They add that she’d been employed as a casual and is not working for them any longer.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the money missing from the elderly man’s home continues.

“Hopefully she will be charged criminally because she will never get a government job or anything else again,” said Tye.

His family believe their suspicions were justified and believe she has other victims out there.

 

Kendall HansonKendall Hanson

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