DOWNRIVER, Mich. – A Metro Detroit woman is feeling heartbroken and betrayed after a home health care worker who she loved like a daughter stole $100,000.
The family says Cindy Taylor has multiple sclerosis and needs in-home help. The service she hired ended up breaking her heart after most of her money was stolen.
Authorities have released ATM records showing the massive amounts of cash being withdrawn from ATMs daily in Taylor.
“My whole life has been turned upside down,” Taylor said.
Taylor met a young woman who seemed like just the right person to welcome into her home to be her at-home caregiver as she deals with the challenges of primary progressive multiple sclerosis.
The girl worked as a caregiver at a nearby facility. Taylor hired her on the side to not only help, but to also become a trusted member of the Taylor family. For two years, the girl told Taylor that she was like a second mom to her.
“She said ‘you are like a mom,’“ Taylor said. “I said, ‘You are like a daughter.’ I loved her.”
Taylor received a call from her bank back in June saying that her account was overdrawn. In her account was her inheritance.
After the notification from the bank, Taylor said the girl called in sick that same day, and she’s not been back since. Instead, she texted saying she was sorry, but the money was gone.
Bank records show staggering ATM withdrawals daily, with credit cards being maxed out to the thousands as small payments were being made to conceal the massive theft.
Taylor’s nest egg of $100,000 was gone.
“I was in shock, for one thing, because I cared about this girl,” Taylor said. “And then I thought, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to live?’ I would just tell her how she broke my heart and broke my life.”
The girl that Taylor hired did not come from an agency, because that kind of care could be rather expensive.
Police sent a warrant request to the prosecutor’s office hoping to find the caregiver.