The Moraga Police Department received reports of thefts and fraud from several elderly residents at Aegis Living in Moraga during late August, investigators said. A look into these incidents revealed that checks, credit cards and debit cards had been stolen from the private living spaces of elderly residents at the facility. The checks were cashed and credit and debit cards used at various locations throughout Contra Costa County, in Southern California and Nevada. Officers also worked with the Orinda police and discovered that a similar theft had occurred at the Orinda Senior Village in which an elderly resident was victimized.
Investigators located video surveillance that showed the suspects engaged in cashing checks and using the credit and debit cards. One of the suspects was a female who was
dressed in a nursing uniform. Witnesses described seeing the same female suspect inside the Aegis facility at the time of the thefts, although she is not an employee at the facility.
The suspects were subsequently identified as Antoinique Bryant, 29, of Richmond and Shawn Morris, 30, also of Richmond. A search of their residence was conducted and resulted in property and evidence being located. Morris was subsequently arrested.
The investigation was reviewed by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office, which filed 27 felony and misdemeanor charges against both Bryant and Morris. These charges included Elder Abuse, Burglary, Fraud and Identity Theft. Morris remains in-custody on these charges. Bryant has not been located and there is a $655,000 warrant outstanding for her arrest.
Moraga Police Chief Jon King said police are still looking into how the suspects gained access to the facilities in question.
“Neither are employed by Aegis or Orinda Senior Village, but the female suspect has worked in an Aegis facility in a different county in the past,” he said. “We don’t yet know how access was gained, but the investigation is ongoing.”
Orinda Police Chief Mark Nagel said: “I’m very pleased our joint efforts have identified the suspects and once again cameras have proven themselves extremely valuable to law enforcement.”
Anyone with information about these cases is asked to contact Moraga Police Detective Kevin Mooney at 925-888-7056.
Wait… whaaaaat?? They did what?
It doesn’t get any lower than that. Wow.
Some scrubs. A stethascope. Your’e a nurse. Hope they catch her real soon.
What were they spending that stolen money on?
Life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
@Danielle – Yes. Horrible crime. Glad it came to light and the responsibles identified.
@ NEWS 24-680…Just curious…why not the “innocent until proven guilty” comment this time?
@BG – Not sure what you mean, BG, could you explain?
How are they getting in to the patients rooms if they don’t work there?
Unbelievable and sad. Hard to believe people can be so low.
If we can’t keep our parents safe we’ve failed as human beings.
Depressing and said to hear. The victims should get something of theirs so they can feel what its like to have people take from you. Nice work police.
Is elder abuse subject to harsher penalty???? MOre jail time???
Horrible. How did they get in?
I think part of the problem that allows some of these crimes to happen is it the rest of us have become too politically correct and afraid to make a discernment or judgment in what we see. It’s possible these people were inside the facilities and no one wanted to challenge or call them out because it would be seen as being prejudiced. And sincerely, we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings nor be prejudice…. but we have to bring some discernment ( I use that word rather than ‘judgment’ ) back into things and not be stupid about it. If someone is acting suspicious or doesn’t belong ‘no matter what their appearance -we need to check it out.
Wow. Bastards. My dad is gone now but my mom is still with us and if this happened to her the gloves would come off. Prison would look good compared to what I wold plan for them if I caught them!! Good they were caught but they should be taught that doing this is really not good and that people don’t like it.
This is why depositing my parents in an old folks home was never an option I was willing to consider. I’m thankful they spent their final years with us.
Terrible. In general, the banks and merchants are on the hook for these kinds of losses. It would not be hard to require additional anti-fraud procedures (i.e, always need chip + PIN plus photo ID to authenticate yourself) to make blank checks and physical credit cards much less valuable, but they have to balance convenience with fraud losses.
@Chris – Yes. Anecdotally we can say our banks have noted “unusual activity” and headed off problems with identity thieves and the light-fingered folk among us more than once, but we are definitely in a new age (Equifax) and it’s going to be a battle heading off these types of crimes going forward.
I’m stunned to learn people still have checkbooks. Just don’t use them at Safeway if you’re in line in front of me. Please. That’s all I ask of you as you clutch to your rotary phone & checkbook.
This is sadly a huge problem everywere. Our elder neighbor in SF went into a home and these same type of crooks targeted her empty home. I even called the police but nothing could be done because I didnt have a family contact and could not say that the person didnt have permission. Months later a family member ffom out of state showed up and was crushed that everything even pictures were gone!!! Asisted living homes are targeted by these people. A neighbor here in Moraga was taken / scammed also again neighbors could do nothing because they didnt have contact info for people who needed to know and could do something!!
Please!!! If you have elders living away from family take the time to know their neighbors, care takers etc. Have local contacts that can keep an eye out for abnormal activity!!!! Your loved ones and even old friends deserve that much.
@TW – Not good. We hate hearing these stories.