Contact: Sheri Greco
Elder
Abuse Vertical Prosecution Unit
Telephone: 874-6699
District Attorney Jan Scully announced today that the jury returned verdicts
of guilty in an elder financial abuse case involving a loss of nearly
$150,000. In 2003 and 2004 the defendant Jennifer Kaihau was the in home
caretaker for the 89 year old victim. Over the course of her employment the
defendant was repeatedly using the victim’s ATM/Debit cards to withdraw cash
and make fraudulent purchases of various items. The crimes spanned over a
period of 14 months and involved three different banks and literally
hundreds of fraudulent transactions.
The defendant was convicted of three felony counts: Penal Code 368(e) theft
by a caretaker from an elderly victim, Penal Code 487(a) grand theft and
Penal Code 484g(a) unlawful use of an ATM/Debit card. The jury also made
findings that as to each of these counts the amount of loss exceeded $50,000
but was slightly less than $150,000.
The elderly victim testified that she had not given the defendant permission
to use her ATM/Debit cards and was unaware that there was hundreds of
dollars of cash being withdrawn from her accounts on a daily basis for over
a year. The evidence established that the defendant was the only person who
was in a position to have obtained the victim’s PIN number and she was
linked to two of the withdrawals by photos taken at the ATM machine.
Additional incriminating evidence was discovered due to the extraordinary
investigation efforts of the Elder Abuse Unit’s assigned Criminal
Investigator Debra Cattuzzo. Through her follow-up investigation with local
merchants listed on some of the bank records it was discovered that the
defendant had also used the victim’s ATM/Debit card to purchase items for
herself like groceries, a freezer, and automobile maintenance for her car.
The defendant’s Judgment and Sentencing date is set for December 1, 2005 at
9:00 am in Department 19 before the honorable Judge Richard Gilmour. Deputy
District Attorney Sheri Greco stated that, “These types of cases bring with
them lots of evidentiary hurdles but we will make every effort to prosecute
these offenders and protect vulnerable elderly victims in our community from
being financially abused.”
