A health aide from Chicago has been charged with stealing from two women in her care, one of them while she was dying, DuPage County prosecutors said.
Latesha Miller, 37, was ordered held in lieu of $300,000 bail Thursday by DuPage County Judge Jane Hird Mitton. She is charged with theft, forgery and financial exploitation of an elderly person.
In August, Miller stole two checks from a woman in Winfield who was dying and receiving home hospice care. Miller, who was employed by home health care service, wrote out a check to an acquaintance for just under $499.50, and the friend cashed the check, keeping $200 and giving the rest to Miller, police say.
A second attempt to cash a forged check – this time for almost $6,900 – failed because the account had been frozen, prosecutors said. The victim in that case has since died, authorities said.
In 2013, while working as a certified nursing assistant at a Naperville senior care facility, Miller took a credit card from an 86-year-old resident, prosecutors said. Miller made unauthorized purchases and took cash advances on the card, as well as making deposits into her own bank account from the victim’s account, prosecutors said. Miller also tried to open lines of credit using the elderly woman’s personal information.
The victim’s daughter noticed irregularities and contacted police, prosecutors said.
“The very idea that Ms. Miller thought that an elderly woman and a woman who was living her final days in her home on hospice care would be easy targets is revolting,” State’s Atty. Robert Berlin said in a statement.
Miller, of the 7300 block of South Wolcott, is due in court Sept. 29.
