Mom, Daughter Charged With Stealing From Senior Citizens (Detroit, USA)

January 22, 2010

Charges have been brought against a woman and her daughter for allegedly posing as health care or aid workers to gain access to senior citizen's homes and robbing them.

Devon Larae Page, 41, and her daughter Kenyatta Page, 20, both of Detroit, are believed to have worn hospital scrubs and stethoscopes and even performed physical examinations in an effort to distract elderly citizens while removing household valuables including cash, credit cards and blank checks. The pair is alleged to have run the scam on at least eight seniors since 2006, taking more than $22,000.

"These are modern day grifters," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said at a press conference today. "There is no one lower than a person who would prey upon our senior citizens."

Sometimes the mother and daughter allegedly posed as volunteers from Meals on Wheels or as Social Security and Focus: HOPE workers, according to Detroit Police. Investigators said it appears neither woman has any professional medical background.

Worthy said in one case, the pair gave a seminar in a senior care facility on the use of Michigan electronic welfare benefit transfer "bridge cards," then returned later to victimize at least one of the residents. She said the pair would make return visits to steal again, but never kept a relationship with any senior for more than three months before moving on.

Devon Page was charged today in the city's 36th District Court with 22 criminal counts stemming from the alleged theft of cash and illegal use of credit cards, ATM cards and blank checks. She was ordered held on $500,000 bond. A preliminary examination will be held Feb. 2.

Kenyatta Page was charged last week with one count of passing bad checks, and also is wanted by authorities for an alleged larceny in Redford Township, according to prosecutors. She is set for a preliminary examination Thursday on the uttering and publishing charge.

Worthy said she suspects the pair victimized many more seniors and asked anyone else who may have had contact with the pair to call assistant prosecutors in her Elder Abuse Unit at (313) 224-5758.

SOURCE:     The Detroit News
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