After being confined to Spring Arbor Nursing Home for more than a year, Patricia Gipe was eager to regain her independence, her family said.

Gipe hired Tonya Antionette Lloyd, a housekeeper from the nursing home, to help around her house and run a few errands.

Everything seemed fine until a phone call from her bank in November about a suspicious check alerted the 85-year-old woman to the theft of nearly $150,000 from her bank account.

Rocky Mount police arrested Lloyd, 35, on Thursday and charged her with felony obtaining property under false pretenses and three felony counts each of financial card fraud and identity theft. She was jailed in Nash County under a $300,000 secured bond.

“Tonya had Patsy’s trust and she just took advantage of it,” said David Bock, who is married to Gipe’s niece. “This woman is the lowest of the lowest type of criminal to take advantage of an 85-year-old widow.”

Gipe’s niece, Martha Bock, said she and her husband went through years of bank records and found out Gipe 
received a debit card from her bank in May 2010.

“So you start following all of the account stations from June of 2010 through 2011, and it is just amazing to see how the debit card charges increased month after month after month,” David Bock said.

Police said Lloyd allegedly used Gipe’s debit card to withdraw money from ATMs, make 
unauthorized purchases and pay for airfare for a vacation to the Bahamas totaling $146,008.52.

“When you are spending $2,000 a month and it goes up to $25,000 a month, shouldn’t your bank notice that?” Martha Bock asked. “We would see these charges from Shell and Exxon, but she doesn’t have a car. There were trips to New York and stuff for kids and $50 a week for dog food, and we knew she hadn’t charged any of that.”

Martha Bock said the family fired Lloyd in December, but the theft already had left Gipe nearly broke.

American Health CEO Darien Cruz, a local company that specializes in staffing home healthcare employees, said Gipe’s case is not the first he has heard of where a caregiver stole thousands of dollars. He said people should be thorough when considering hiring a caregiver themselves.

“It can really be pretty expensive to hire a company to find a good healthcare worker, but if we hire someone, we have done a number of background checks on that worker and gone through a number of screenings then made sure that person is qualified to work with our clients,” Cruz said. “I understand the temptation of trying to do it yourself or hiring someone you know for a few dollars an hour, but it is a risk.”

According to the N.C. Department of Correction website, Lloyd has no prior convictions.

Cruz said when trying to hire a caregiver, people should ask for a number of personal and professional references from candidates, conduct state and nationwide background checks as well as speak with other families they’ve worked for in the past.

Cruz also recommended doing an Internet search on candidates and checking social 
networking sites to find information not included in background checks.

“You are putting, not only someone’s livelihood, but their life also in that person’s hands,” Cruz said. “You have to know who is coming into your home, and you have to be careful.”