Burlington

Worker allegedly stole watch from 97-year-old at assisted living facility

A pretrial conference is scheduled for Jan. 19 for a Burlington woman charged with stealing from a resident at a Burlington assisted living facility.

Elizabeth J. Reda, 20, was charged Oct. 16 in Racine County Circuit Court with felony theft against an elderly or disabled person.

According to the criminal complaint, a third-shift employee of Arbor View Communities saw Reda, also a third-shift worker, looking in drawers in a resident’s room while carrying a basket with a black garbage bag in it. Reda told her co-worker she was cleaning up, but the employee thought Reda’s behavior was suspicious and reported it to another employee, who looked in Reda’s car and saw two black garbage bags on the front seat, according to the complaint. The employee looked in the bag and saw a watch, a vase and jewelry boxes that contained earrings and a necklace and took pictures of them, according to the complaint.

The director of the facility recognized the watch as one that belonged to a 97-year-old resident. Police spoke to the woman, who said the watch belonged to her deceased husband and she did not give anyone permission to take it from her room, according to the complaint.

 

Woman charged with faking letter to appear

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 15 for a Rochester woman charged with falsifying a letter from a psychotherapist to avoid trial in Racine County.

Sheila A. Counard, 54, was charged Sept. 22 in Racine County Circuit Court with uttering a forgery.

According to the criminal complaint, Counard presented a letter dated March 26 purportedly signed by a psychotherapist at Aurora Health Care to obtain an adjournment of a trail scheduled for July 7 before Judge Charles Constantine. The letter states that Counard was not capable of participating in or assisting with her trial, and, as a result, an adjournment was granted, according to the complaint.

A security employee at Aurora Health Care contacted authorities July 27 and reported the psychotherapist neither drafted nor signed the March 26 letter, the complaint states.

Counard has been a party in multiple civil and small claims cases in Racine County.

For additional court news from the Burlington area, see the Nov. 16 edition of the Burlington Standard Press. 

Comments are closed.