The suspect, Monica Crawford, was being held at the Thurston County Jail Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree theft. A judge has allowed her to be released on her personal recognizance, meaning she does not have to post bail, but a jail official said Tuesday they could not verify her address, and she will not be released from custody until then. Crawford is being held in an area of the jail where the inmates are kept on suicide watch, according to court papers.
According to court papers:
Lacey police began an investigation into the alleged theft in early September, after a RooLan Health Care Center official reported that one of their patient’s rent had not been paid for the past two months. The patient’s daughter had power of attorney over the patient’s finances and was responsible for the payment of her mother’s care at RooLan, according to the RooLan official.
RooLan Health Care Center is an assisted-living facility on Carpenter Road.
The RooLan employee reported that Crawford had been using her mother’s “money for personal expenses rather than providing for her care as required.” The employee had already contacted Adult Protective Services and they had opened an investigation of Crawford.
Crawford admitted her mother to RooLan in July at the request of APS, after she had been removed as the caregiver for her mother by the Area Agency on Aging.
The APS official told a Lacey detective that Crawford was under investigation based on allegations of neglect and abandonment. The APS official stated that she had discovered that Crawford was using funds from her mother’s accounts for personal expenses. She also said Crawford had written several checks drawing from her mother’s accounts that were made out to “cash.”
Unpaid rent due to RooLan that Crawford is responsible for paying from her mother’s accounts totals about $2,100.
When a Lacey officer spoke to Crawford at her home on Eagle Drive in Lacey, Crawford admitted that she had not been paying for her mother’s care at RooLan. She told the officer she “made a bad decision” and she also admitted to cashing checks from her mother’s account.
In early September, the patient’s son obtained power of attorney over the woman’s accounts.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5445 jpawloski@theolympian.com
