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Letter to the editor

Crime journal

By Times Staff Writer
Published November 7, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS

Caregiver even stole furniture, authorities say

Authorities arrested a home health aide Tuesday after police said she burglarized the home of a former client and bought more than $200 worth of groceries using stolen checks. Debra Folts of New Port Richey was charged with exploitation of the elderly or disabled, grand theft, residential burglary and uttering a forged instrument, according to the Tarpon Springs Police Department. Folts was employed by Mobile Personal Services based out of New Port Richey when she worked as a caregiver for Doris Gaspelin, 90, and her disabled son, Craig Nichols, 69, of Tarpon Springs. When the two were moved to a nursing facility in October, a neighbor reportedly witnessed Folts pull up to their house with a van and trailer and remove the furniture, police spokeswoman Barbara Templeton said. The victims' neighbor contacted authorities. Folts was being held at the Pinellas County jail in lieu of $30,000 bail Tuesday.

LAND O' LAKES

Fire department treasurer arrested

The Land O'Lakes Volunteer Fire Department may have been betrayed by one of its elected officials. Friday, Pasco deputies arrested the department's treasurer, Alicia Long Puertas, on charges she stole more than $22,000 from the organization. According to deputies, Puertas, 32, used the funds to pay her utilities and buy a car. Her arrest comes three years after the department's former chief, James Byrne, embezzled nearly $28,000 from the organization and used the money for jewelry, stereo systems and airline tickets. In 2006 a circuit judge ordered him to pay back the funds in monthly installments of $156.09.

PALM HARBOR

Bank robber uses hint of a weapon

A man who implied that he had a weapon robbed the Bank of America at 33451 U.S. 19 about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, Pinellas County sheriff's officials said. The man waited in line briefly, then approached a teller and demanded cash in Spanish. The teller didn't see a weapon, but gave him an undisclosed amount of cash. Investigators described him as about 25 years old, 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 7 and weighing about 160 pounds. He was clean-shaven and wore a dark baseball cap with an unknown logo and a dark, possibly blue three-fourthlength jacket with a reflective stripe around the body and sleeves.

[Last modified November 6, 2007, 23:25:26]