Former Nursing Home Employee Arrested
Jan 13, 2009
By Don Logana
THUNDERBOLT, GA (WTOC) –
A former nursing home employee is in jail tonight charged with elder abuse and stealing the identities of as many as 40 residents from nursing homes in the area.
Thunderbolt police say Tamara Smith used her job as a certified nursing assistant to gain access to patients personal information.
She is accused of using the information of 43 former and current nursing home residents, half of them from Tara Nursing Home on Falligant Avenue in Thunderbolt to buy computers, cell phones, and open credit cards. The victims range in age from 60 to as old as 100.
For every victim over the age of 65, Smith is being charged an additional count of elder abuse. Thunderbolt police chief Irene Pennington says this is the largest case of identity theft she has ever seen.
"You wonder how someone can do this to people in nursing homes who have nothing at that point in their life anyway," said Thunderbolt police chief Irene Pennington. "She had been getting away with it, but it took good investigations to catch up with her."
The investigation started 15 months ago after a single complaint to police from one resident's family. It snowballed from there, police chief Pennington says the number of victims continues to grow and more arrests are expected.
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