The caretaker for an elderly woman who is charged with stealing thousands of dollars of her client’s money appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court last week.
Fifty-year-old Shelah Letitia Ellison of Mountain Home was ordered to reappear in mid-September. Her next court date is the final time she can accept or reject plea offers in the case.
HIRED AS CARETAKER
The family of the then 77-year-old woman who lives alone and has a number of medical issues hired Ellison in January last year.
Initially, Ellison worked Monday through Friday at a rate of $160 for an eight-hour day. If someone stood in for her, Ellison was expected to pay the substitute from her check.
In February, the schedule was modified to include some time on weekends to ensure the older woman took her medications as directed.
The work schedule had Ellison working Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Her mother would work Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Ellison was to pay her mother or any other person who substituted for her out of her regular paycheck.
In some of the questioned checks, investigators found that Ellison was cashing her paycheck and paying her mother with another check.
She told investigators she “forgot” to deduct her mother’s pay from her own check in some instances.
According to investigators, Ellison would write checks on the older woman’s account to pay monthly bills. She also had use of a credit card to purchase needed items for the victim.
UNAUTHORIZED TRANSACTIONS
When investigators checked records, they reported there appeared to be slightly more than $1,000 in unauthorized transactions on the victim’s credit card.
When Ellison went on vacation in July last year, another caregiver took her place. The substitute found what appeared to be an unpaid bill.
It was shown to the victim who was confident Ellison had taken care of the bill. The woman wanted to look at her bank statements to determine if the check to pay the bill had cleared, but no recent bank statements could be found in the house.
Copies of bank statements were obtained and it was determined that large unauthorized transactions had been made. A further search revealed unauthorized charges to the victim’s credit cards.
A check for $45,000 had been made to a local bank to pay off a vehicle loan taken out by Ellison. The check was listed in the register as “church $20,000.”
Another check for $5,200 was flagged as possibly unauthorized. Ellison said the victim had allowed her to write a check to pay for Ellison’s dental surgery.
There was also alleged manipulation of checks made on the victim’s accounts to pay the caretaker for her services.
In one instance, a check for $4,800 was made to Ellison. Investigators determined that, given her rate of pay and the hours worked, the check should have been for no more than $3,680.
The victim said she had never authorized Ellison to write large checks nor had she give large money gifts to Ellison during the time she was the victim’s caregiver.
Ellison acknowledged to investigators that some of her “paychecks” were written for amounts in excess of what should have been owed when her hours were multiplied by her rate-of-pay.
She contended the difference represented compensation for chores she did for the victim outside of her normal duties – including washing the driveway, cleaning out cabinets and landscaping.
The victim said she had no such extra duty pay arrangement with Ellison.
The victim’s relatives were notified and two of them confronted the caregiver about the $45,000 loan to pay off the loan for her vehicle.
Elliot said the victim had given her the money. The victim was present for the meeting and denied the statement.
It was reported that Elliot got a loan at a bank and returned the $45,000 to the victim on the day of the meeting.
When the $45,000 was deducted from the total of the unauthorized checks and credit card purchases, there was a balance allegedly owned to the woman or her estate of almost $19,000, according to investigators.
When Ellison was interviewed on Sept. 29, 2021, she told investigators that the victim had dementia and was often forgetful.
She said the woman had given her the money to pay off her vehicle loan and the bill for her dental surgery.
Ellison also contended she told the victim when she made personal purchases on the woman’s credit card, and told her she would reimburse the victim for those purchases.
She said the victim would respond to her repayment offers by saying, “Don’t worry about it.”
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