A health care worker was arrested after allegedly ripping off her elderly client at a facility in Wildwood.
The woman contacted law enforcement after discovering that her checkbook, debit card and driver’s license were missing from her residence at America House on Rio Grande Boulevard in Wildwood. The woman and her son had paid a visit to Suncoast Credit Union where they learned a check was fraudulently cashed on her account.
There were also some suspicious debit card charges on the woman’s account, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. They included a $517 charge at a 7-Eleven in Leesburg, a $55 charge at Pizza Hut, an $18 charge at a Sunoco station in Leesburg and a $15 charge at the Walgreens at Pinellas Plaza in The Villages.
A detective went to the Walgreens and asked to see the surveillance footage, but was told by a manager he would have to have a subpoena. Once the subpoena was obtained, the detective found an image of a woman who visited the Walgreens while wearing red scrubs and black pants. The woman was identified by a manager at America House as 37-year-old Gavianna Geanine Washington of Leesburg. The manager said Washington does not work for America House but was contracted through a home health care service called Concierge.
Officers went to America House on Thursday morning and met with Washington, who was “extremely nervous.” She appeared to be deleting text messages from her phone and attempted to leave the office where she was meeting with police. She tried to pull away from officers and had to be escorted to the ground where she was handcuffed. She demanded a lawyer.
Washington was arrested on two felony counts of fraud and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest. She was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $5,000 bond.
