A caretaker and her boyfriend have been accused of stealing checks from a 93-year-old disabled Hermosa Beach woman and cashing them at a business.
Shekesha Shenea Andrews, 31, and Perry Lewis Jr., 47, made off with less than $500 from the woman’s account but took advantage of her condition, police said.
Andrews, who was employed with a caregiver company, went to work in the elderly woman’s home as a live-in attendant.
“The victim is 93 years old and disabled to the point of being confined to a wheelchair in the downstairs portion of her two-story home,” Wolcott said.
As part of the company’s service, a supervisor recently visited the house to write checks to pay the woman’s bills.
The supervisor paid them from the woman’s checkbook.
Five checks were missing. The supervisor contacted Hermosa Beach police.
Detectives determined the checks were cashed at a supermarket. The transactions were videotaped by a surveillance camera.
Andrews and her boyfriend, Lewis, were in the video, Wolcott said.
Detectives arrested the pair Jan. 8. The Los Angeles residents remain in custody in county jail on $115,000 bail.
Prosecutors charged Andrews with first-degree burglary with a person present, theft from an elderly or dependent adult by a caretaker and second-degree commercial burglary.
“Fortunately, the supervisor for the company caught it and recognized what happened,” Wolcott said.
In addition to the theft, Andrews sneaked Lewis into the woman’s home to “entertain him in the upstairs portion of the home” while the elderly woman was downstairs, Wolcott said.
Police did not identify the woman’s employer.