A 34-year-old home health nurse, Mallory Giles, was arrested Thursday and charged with attempted murder and theft for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars and poisoning a 93-year-old man she was looking after. The home carer is accused of using the 93-year-old patient's credit cards, which he gave to her to buy his essentials. At some point, police said that Giles started to take advantage of her patient and made significant purchases for herself.
When family members noticed the strange spending, they reported it to the police. During their inquiries into the theft allegations, the elderly man was rushed to the hospital due to an opioid overdose. Police concluded that the nurse had been mixing opioids with his food.
According to the Daily Mail, the victim was given a Narcan at the hospital and was successfully revived. However, the doctors discovered other powerful narcotics in his system that were not part of his daily treatment.
Using an old man's credit card
According to Lt. Scott Dahlgren, Giles might have stolen from her patient's credit card to buy clothes and shoes and furnished her home. He also believed that Giles had been mixing opioids into the victim's food to keep him sedated and unaware of what she was doing. Her spending included clothes, shoes, furniture for her home, wall décor, and outside lawn care items. Per body camera footage, the police told Giles that she basically outfitted her house with the old man's credit card. Police believed that Giles purchased more than $50,000.
The authorities also said she was trying to keep him medicated to the point that he could not look at his bank and credit card statements. It would also allow her to continue using his credit card without him noticing.
When police asked Giles why she did it, she said she did not know why. She also denied that she has drug problems.
At the end of the investigation, police arrested Giles for attempted murder and theft from a protected class, reflecting the victim's age and declining health. Giles is being held at the Erie County Jail with a bond of $560,000.
Elderly people are the most vulnerable to fraud
Dahlgren said the incident was upsetting that somebody would take advantage of elderly people. He noted it was sad that the elderly are the most vulnerable in the society, yet people continue to prey on them. He added he was glad that a family member noticed the irregularities, Fox8 reports.
As of last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that senior citizens had lost almost $ 1 billion in scams in 2020.
The FBI said the elderly are the ones extorted the most. In 2020, the highest fraud cases occurred in Florida, California, and Texas.
Elderly Americans usually are victims of financial fraud, romance scams, tech support fraud, and lottery or sweepstakes scams, ABC News says.
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