A home health care worker has been arrested after allegedly forging a $5,000 check from an elderly Parkinson’s Disease patient who is unable to write.
Right at Home, a home health care service, had sent their employee, 20-year-old Cidney Domoniquen Slydell of Grand Island, to the 94-year-old bedridden man’s residence in Leesburg.
The ill man’s wife was contacted by Truist bank on Dec. 13 regarding a check which had been issued on her husband’s account on Nov. 30. The bank said the check had her husband’s signature and was made out to Slydell in the amount of $5,000. The wife told the bank that her husband has Parkinson’s Disease and could not have written the check.
The wife called the Leesburg Police Department and an officer met with her the next day. That officer was able to speak with Slydell by telephone and Slydell claimed he could not have deposited a check in his account as the account had been frozen.
A senior Leesburg police detective was assigned to the case. The detective met with the 94-year-old and confirmed that he was unable to sign the check as his handwriting was poor due to his illness. The man’s wife had gone online and obtained a picture from Slydell’s Facebook page. When the detective showed her a picture of Slydell from his driving record, she confirmed his identity. The detective sent subpoenas to Slydell’s South State Bank and obtained his records which confirmed he was the account holder and that he had deposited the elderly man’s check in his account on Nov. 30.
When Slydell turned himself in Thursday at the Lake County Jail he was charged with theft from a person over 65-less than $10,000, uttering a forged instrument and petit theft for the checks which were taken from the victim. He posted $4,500 bond and was released.
