ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A home health aide is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from an ailing Florida woman she was hired to help.
Shantel Monique Byrd, 27, was arrested on Thursday and charged with using another person’s information and elderly exploitation, court records show.
Byrd had been working as an aide for the woman, who is in her 70s, for more than three years, according to a St. Petersburg police report. The woman had suffered a stroke that caused her to be paralyzed on the right side.
Investigators said Byrd called the bank and used the woman’s personal information to change the PIN on her debit card and the online log-in to her bank account. Byrd is also accused of stealing the woman’s debit card and transferring money from the woman’s savings account to her checking account 11 times.
She’s accused of using the woman’s credit card to make 433 transactions that totaled $34,000, the arrest report said.
The Tampa Bay Times reported the woman used money for car payments, utility bills, cellphone payments, restaurant bills, online shopping and jail phone calls for her boyfriend. She also paid off her boyfriend’s traffic citation, the newspaper reported.
Jail records don’t list a lawyer for Byrd.
