MIAMI – Miami-Dade County prosecutors announced an arrest Tuesday in what they described as an elderly exploitation case targeting a visually-impaired victim.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at a news conference that the 81-year-old victim’s vision is so bad that her driver’s license was revoked. That’s important, she said, because she did not have a required identification for a lot of the illegal transactions investigators say Gladys Smith conducted.
“For elder exploitation to succeed, the exploiters need to gain the victims’ trust. that’s why this case is so important,” Fernandez Rundle said. “She wasn’t suffering from dementia. She had her wits about her. But she had confidence in this person as a caretaker.”
The victim, Miriam Fernandez, also owned two apartment buildings in Miami-Dade County — which made her a target, Fernandez Rundle said. But authorities said Fernandez had friends looking out for her.
Investigators said those vigilant friends who were persistent in helping Fernandez get out of a bad situation, eventually contacting the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office Elder and Vulnerable Adult Task Force.
Investigators say Smith has now been arrested in Tallahassee for grand theft, elderly exploitation, fraud and forgery.
They say after Fernandez rented a room in Smith’s Margate home, Smith went to work. In less than two months’ time, Smith had power of attorney for far more than just medical reasons.
Prosecutors allege she got two quitclaim deeds on the victim’s income properties. Investigators say she took a mortgage out on one, all without the victim’s knowledge or consent.
“We can win. We won here, she won. She went through a lot, but she’s sitting here a victorious lady because of caring friends, watchful friends, eyes and ears,” Fernandez Rundle said.
At one point, the Florida Department of Children and Families got involved in this case, following an anonymous complaint regarding elder exploitation.
Police went and conducted a welfare check, and that’s how they said the victim found out her properties had been transferred to the defendant.
Fernandez Rundle said the case remains under investigation.