Home Health Aid Theft

On July 4, 2015, the family of a loved one found that $50,000 worth of jewelry, silverware, rare coins and family heirlooms were missing from the attic of their father’s home. The family had a home health aid caring for their father during the day and they strongly suspected the aid had committed the theft. When they called the local police, they were told that without proof that she had taken the items, they could not press charges on the aid. The family called Creative Solutions to discuss what could be done to prove the aid had committed the theft, possibly retrieve their stolen items and build a case to press charges against her.

Creative Solutions immediately formulated an investigative plan, which involved planting additional valuables in the area where the theft occurred and installing covert cameras, setting a trap that she hopefully would respond to.

Within a couple of days, she took the bait….







A review of the items in the box, which had been documented by photo and video revealed a pair of earrings missing from the box. The cameras documented that only the aid had access to the jewelry box during this period.



Now that we had the aid committing another theft, Creative Solutions moved into the interview/interrogation phase to obtain a confession and determine what she did with the stolen items.


After being confronted with the evidence, the aid immediately confessed to committing all of the thefts. She agreed to take the investigator to her home and return the stolen items to the victim.


Some of the stolen items returned:




A review of the stolen items with the victim, revealed that the aid did not return all the stolen items. Creative Solutions then worked with the local police, who signed criminal complaints against the aid, charging her with the theft.

Due to the strength of the case, the value of the items stolen, the violation of the family’s trust and the overwhelming investigative proofs, the County Prosecutor refused to allow the aid into the Pre Trial Intervention program (PTI). The case was presented to a Grand Jury and the aid was indicted for third degree theft. She PLED GUILTY to theft and was sentenced to two years.