EVERETT — When Michael Walsh, 85, complained to his children that he was being robbed by caretakers at an adult family home, they believed the great-great-grandfather’s mind was clouded by dementia.
Then, after he died in February, Walsh’s daughter saw something wrong with his bank account.
“I saw amounts that didn’t look right to me,” Margo Ward said.
Two days after Walsh died, someone cashed a $4,500 check.
On Tuesday, Maroja Nasution, 37, the Everett woman entrusted with Walsh’s care, was arrested on suspicion of stealing thousands from the man.
“It’s always troubling when someone takes advantage of somebody in the latter years of life,” Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said.
Police believe Nasution, a licensed adult family home caregiver, stole and cashed at least five of Walsh’s checks, totaling $17,150, according to a police affidavit.
“You never think somebody would do that,” Walsh’s son Steve said.
After the arrest Tuesday, state Department of Social and Health Services officials suspended Nasution’s license for Kristina Sweet Home Care and closed the three Everett adult family homes the woman operated. Eight residents were moved to other adult care homes, said Julie Lord, a regional administrator for residential care services.
“We certainly don’t want to see any vulnerable person financially exploited,” Lord said.
After her father died Feb. 23, Ward received a bank statement for his account and saw some unusual checks, the police report said.
She went to the bank to ask what was going on. Copies of the returned checks were pulled and Ward, the executor of her father’s estate, looked at the signature.
“That’s not my dad’s and it wasn’t mine,” she said.
Police took on the investigation and learned the checks were all deposited into Nasution’s bank account, the police report said.
When confronted, Nasution allegedly first told police she used the money to help ailing relatives in the Philippines. She showed detectives wire receipts for $600 sent overseas, but police said the wire transfers were completed before Nasution cashed Walsh’s checks.
Later, Nasution told detectives Walsh gave her permission to take his money, the police report said.
Walsh’s family said he was always frugal and didn’t give anyone permission to spend his money.
For many years, Walsh, a father of seven, grandfather of 22, great-grandfather of 26 and great-great-grandfather of one, owned two adjacent homes on Grand Avenue. He lived in the basement of one of the homes and had tried to fix them up. But a person hired to help walked away without finishing the job. Then he battled with bad tenants and transients. While hospitalized for pancreatic cancer, someone stole his car, Steve Walsh said.
For a while, Walsh moved in with his daughter, but she was gone at work and he needed the watchful eyes of caretakers, Ward said.
Kristina Sweet Home Care was around the corner from Ward’s home and Nasution seemed like someone who could be trusted to take care of her father.
“She was always so nice and friendly,” Ward, 55, said.
Along with nursing homes and boarding homes, adult family homes are an option for long-term care for the elderly and disabled, said Louise Ryan, the state long-term care ombudsman.
Licensed to care for no more than six people at a time, the family homes provide a familiar, homey setting for the residents, she said.
There are about 2,500 family homes in the state, she said. Cases of abuse are rare.
“It’s not real common, but yeah, it happens from time to time,” Ryan said.
If a loved one becomes suspicious of the care that’s being provided, they should call the ombudsman offices or the state social and health services department.
“Anytime there’s a complaint brought to our attention, we send an investigator,” Lord said.
Walsh’s family said a box with $5,000 cash and a ditty bag with coins were taken from his room, according to the police report. Before his death, Walsh complained of being hungry and during a doctor’s visit, the physician was concerned Walsh wasn’t being properly looked after, the police report said.
State investigators weren’t able to verify those complaints, Lord said. Still, they determined the residents at Kristina Sweet Home Care were at “imminent risk of harm,” she said.
“The provider misappropriated money from the bank account of a former resident,” according to a July 1 notice of summary suspension.
Detectives continue to investigate and believe there may be at least one other victim, Goetz said.
Nasution was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree theft, first-degree identity theft and five counts of forgery. She’s being held on $45,000 bail.
At the end of his life, Walsh struggled with a host of illnesses and dementia, his daughter said.
“To take advantage of someone in that condition is just not right,” Ward said. “I just hope that this prevents it from being done to someone else.”
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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