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Ex-caregiver suspected of credit card theft

A patient had given the caregiver a credit card for drugs and groceries, but the woman is accused of ringing up $4,342 for other things.

LARGO - A former caregiver at a Largo nursing home was arrested Tuesday on charges that she used a resident's credit card to charge more than $4,000.

Margaret D. Payne, 42, was arrested Tuesday morning on a warrant charging her with elderly exploitation. She was held at the Pinellas County Jail on Wednesday in lieu of $5,000 bail.

Payne was working at the Oak Manor Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center in Largo in 2003, where she cared for a 62-year-old woman who used a wheelchair. The woman gave Payne her credit card and asked her to buy things she needed at local grocery stores and drugstores, an arrest affidavit stated.

But Payne used the card to buy other things, ringing up $4,342 in unauthorized purchases, the affidavit stated.

When police began investigating, Payne tried to send a message to the woman urging her not to prosecute, the affidavit stated.

Payne, of St. Petersburg, was fired from the nursing home on Oct. 22, 2003, for reasons unrelated to the theft accusations, said Terry Russell, the home's owner and administrator. He did not disclose why she was terminated.

Ten days later, the victim reported the theft to nursing home officials, who alerted authorities, Russell said.

"If I have someone stealing from the elderly, I'll be the first to put them in jail," Russell said.

Oak Manor has had problems with employees before.

In May 2002, a nurse was charged with giving a 96-year-old dementia patient a black eye. The nurse was fired and later arrested. She pleaded guilty to a battery charge and received six months of probation.

In March 2002, two nursing assistants were arrested in connection with a beating that left an 89-year-old patient with three broken ribs. One caregiver was sentenced to more than two years in prison for beating the patient, who suffered from dementia. The other assistant, who saw the beating and did nothing to stop it, was sentenced to three years of probation.

Despite the past problems, Russell said, the facility provides quality care and aims to hire only qualified employees. He said they do background checks on all caregivers.

Russell bought the facility in September 2003 - more than a year after the previous two abuse incidents - and said he has made changes. He said the facility has 177 beds, and more than 300 employees work on the campus. He said any complaints of employee wrongdoing are immediately reported to authorities.

"Whenever something like this comes along, we're on top of it," he said.