JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville nursing assistant has been arrested for stealing thousands of dollars from the elderly woman she was caring for.
This woman was caught after family noticed the cash and more than $22,000 worth of jewelry were missing.
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According to the police report, a family member opened the victim’s safe to get jewelry for her to wear and that’s when they noticed the jewelry and cash were missing.
Rhonda Cole, 41, is now serving three years in state prison for exploiting and stealing from an elderly woman. Cole was providing in-home medical care to woman with early stages of dementia. On Tuesday, Cole voluntarily relinquished her license to practice nursing.
Action News Jax spoke to a family member of the victim, who is 87 years old, Wednesday who didn’t want to be identified.
“There are a lot of good companies and a lot of good care providers out there … the problem is it only takes just one to have a problem,” the family member said.
Police say Cole used the victim’s safe key and stole $10,000 cash and more than $20,000 worth of jewelry and coins. Between the end of April and the middle of July 2016, Cole pawned the jewelry at different shops around Jacksonville.
“They’re required to record items of high value,” said Action News Jax law and safety expert Dale Carson.
Carson said police have a pawn shop database to check for stolen items. In this case, that led to receipts that had Cole’s fingerprint.
“You are required to identify the item as being yours personally and you sign a document and you give a fingerprint attesting to the fact you are the owner and you have a right to pawn the item,” Carson said.
Cole was arrested and charged with 32 felony counts.
“The best thing to do is to take the temptation away from people if you can do it,” the victim's family member said.
The victim’s family member has a message for others.
“You would think that having an obscure place in the house with a safe and with a lock on it would be safe a place … but apparently it wasn’t. A locked safe is not necessarily absolutely safe if you have certain things which are irreplaceable or very valuable, you might want to consider a safety deposit box or leaving it with a trusted … a trusted family member.”
Along with time in prison, Cole was also sentenced to pay more than $20,000 in restitution to the victim. The victim's family said they were able to recover a little more than half of the stolen items. But because of her medical condition, the victim has no idea the items were ever stolen.
Cox Media Group
