BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A certified nursing assistant from Cocoa was arrested Friday, accused of stealing around $20,000 from an 87-year-old man staying at a Florida retirement home where she worked.
Tangela Anderson, 32, was arrested on probable cause after denying all knowledge of the scheme, in what involved three checks deposited to her and two others’ bank accounts in July 2022, totaling $19,472, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
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The investigation began that August when the man’s son reported the theft to the sheriff’s office, acting as Power of Attorney over his father’s bank account. He stated no permission was given to have the checks processed, adding he recognized none of the names written on them. At the senior living facility — The Brennity at Melbourne, located along North Wickham Road — investigators caught up with the man, who said no other person had permission to remove the checkbook he kept in a dresser drawer.
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Several emails between a manager at the senior living facility and Anderson were recovered and confirmed she was employed there from September to December 2021, at one point being “self-terminated” after not showing up to work for three days yet returning to work at The Brennity through Grand Staffing, a staffing agency that hires out nurses and nursing assistants, according to the sheriff’s office.
Anderson’s job at The Brennity involved tending to residents and their laundry; though she said none of the rooms she had been assigned to were the victim’s, those emails between Anderson and the manager stated she had been assigned to the 87-year-old. A medical evaluation of the victim found he needed help with walking, bathing, dressing, toileting and transferring, according to Anderson’s arrest affidavit.
Anderson reportedly called the sheriff’s office in September 2022, claiming she had been fired for being suspected of stealing a checkbook from The Brennity. Anderson “wanted to know what (the) investigation was about,” the affidavit states.
Upon being questioned over the phone, Anderson said she knew nothing about the victim or his room and denied taking or receiving any of the missing checks, deputies said.
Investigators followed up with Anderson earlier this year with sharper inquiries over the $7,500 check and two $5,986 checks charged against the victim’s account.
Through bank video surveillance and interviews with Anderson’s ex-boyfriend, it was determined that the ex-boyfriend deposited the checks, which would go on to be spent in smaller ATM transactions.
Anderson faces a charge of exploitation of an elderly or disabled adult. The day after her arrest, she was released on a $5,000 bond amount before 1 a.m., records show.
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