Vero Beach employee at assisted living facility arrested for robbing elderly residents
Yesterday, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office reported that they received complaints of six burglaries during the month of April that occurred at an assisted living facility in Vero Beach, Florida. The Isles of Vero Beach retirement community located at 1700 Waterford Drive in Vero Beach was identified as that facility.
Residents informed police that cash, jewelry, credit cards, and other personal items were stolen from their locked apartments. Suspiciously though, there were no signs of forced entry, indicating a possible inside job.
Detective Greg Farless with the sheriff’s office began looking at pawn databases for potential stolen items. He identified jewelry that appeared to match the description from one of the burglaries.
Chelsea Langford, 28, of Vero Beach, a medical technician employed by the Isles of Vero, had pawned jewelry items identified by a resident as belonging to them. One of the items recovered was identified by a victim as being a wedding ring given to her from her deceased husband more than sixty years ago.
Detective Farless interviewed Langford who admitted to pawning the stolen items. Langford was arrested and charged with two counts of dealing in stolen property and two counts of false information to a pawn broker. Items recovered from the other burglaries are currently being processed by the IRCF Forensic Services Unit to determine if further charges are warranted.
Deputies said she had no criminal record and passed a background check prior to employment.
Langford admitted pawning the jewelry to fund her daughter’s birthday but denied stealing it, deputies said, telling them she got the items from another employee. ~ per TCPalm
Detectives are looking at Langford for the other burglaries that occurred in the assisted living facility.
Indian River County Sheriff Deryl Loar stated, “Chelsea Langford was arrested for stealing from very elderly people in our community. We will continue to investigate these cases, process evidence, and work with the State Attorney’s Office to seek justice for these vulnerable victims.”
Langford was taken into custody on May 9. She was released May 10 from Indian River County Jail after posting a $22,000 bond.
(Source: Indian River County Sheriff’s Office)
~ Written by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
Also see:
