South Florida duo charged with stealing more than $225,000 from elderly dementia patient
The Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office charged two home healthcare aides with multiple felonies after an investigation concluded they stole more than $225,000 from a woman in her 90s suffering from dementia.
According to warrants released Friday from Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s office, Natsky Nelson, 48, from Miami, and Jose Miteau Pierre-Toussaint, 55, of Pembroke Pines, stole the money and also amended the woman’s revocable trust agreement to leave them more cash.
Nelson has been arrested and is being held on $125,000 bond, but police say Pierre-Toussaint is at large.
The two began working for the woman, Lorraine Laderman, in October 2017 through Avanti Home Health Services. They were sent to Laderman’s home to provide daily care for her.
Laderman was 92 when she hired Nelson and Pierre-Toussaint, and they continued working for her until she died in February 2021 at the age of 97, according to Miami police Detective Sonia Fernandez’s probable cause affidavit.
Over the course of their employment with Laderman, Nelson and Pierre-Toussaint withdrew about $227,100 from several of her accounts and transferred the money to a company they started, the affidavit said.
On Dec. 31, 2020, Laderman’s trust was completed and amended to leave Nelson $200,000, the affidavit states.
“This investigation has revealed that the victim was not mentally or physically able to make a legal decision or comprehend and agree to the Revocable Trust Agreement dated 12/31/2020 and lacked the capacity to consent. Both [defendants] took advantage of the victim’s physical and mental deterioration with the intent to permanently deprive the victim of her funds,” Fernandez wrote in the March 21 affidavit.
