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Heather Nelson (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida housekeeper, once entrusted with maintaining domestic tranquility for her octogenarian employer, was recently arrested after a Christmas Eve confrontation escalated into an angry bout of larceny and physical violence, Sunshine State law enforcement say.
Heather Nelson, 29, stands accused of a litany of felonies, including aggravated battery, robbery, forgery, fraud, passing a counterfeit instrument, and grand theft, according to authorities and court filings in Brevard County. She also faces a lone misdemeanor fraud charge.
The incident allegedly stemmed from the victim’s inability to provide her cleaner with a requested $500 Christmas bonus.
After the bonus was denied, the defendant allegedly made off with an even bigger haul — and the 83-year-old victim was left with a swollen wrist, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
“She actually took the check by force, [she] took some Christmas cards that had money in them, took some debit and credit cards, left the residence, forged some signatures and attempted to take quite a bit of money from this woman,” sheriff’s office’s public information officer Tod Goodyear told Orlando-based Fox affiliate WOFL.
But Nelson’s alleged transgressions did not end with the purloining of the checkbook, the sheriff’s office alleges.
Investigators say the defendant went on to use the stolen lucre to pay her outstanding rent, drafting a check in the amount of $1,400 — significantly exceeding the amount of the would-be bonus.
“Based on what she was using the monies for, she was in financial trouble,” Goodyear went on to tell the TV station. “Maybe she just saw this as the only way possibly out of it, but to take advantage of our elderly seniors is not what you do.”
Nelson was apprehended nearly two weeks after the initial incident, a delay attributed to the time required to trace her alleged financial malfeasance. Deputies followed the money trail after the allegedly forged check cleared and credit card transactions posted, which led to Nelson’s arrest on Jan. 7, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office castigated the defendant in a multiple-paragraph press release with multiple Dr. Suess references upon her arrest.
From that missive, at length:
When the victim announced that she didn’t have enough money to give her a bonus, Nelson responded by physically wrenching the victim’s checkbook from her hand, stealing a check from the checkbook, and then, I guess in an effort to ruin other people’s Christmas as well, stole Christmas cards that were set to be mailed out also containing checks!! Damn Grinch, you went too far!! I guess committing battery and almost breaking the wrist of the elderly victim wasn’t bad enough so you decide to steal all her money and take Christmas gifts that were meant for others away as well!! What’s next … kick her dog?
“Now while the original Grinch story may have ended with everyone in ‘Whoville’ being happy and sharing their Christmas with the Grinch, this one ends with Agent Sherrill not being happy at all about what happened and going to get a warrant,” the press release goes on.
Authorities say the housekeeper was a longtime and trusted employee.
“The elderly are scammed, they are taken advantage of by other people a lot of times because they have some diminished capacity, or they’re very trusting,” Goodyear told WFOL. “They grew up in a time when people trusted each other.”
Originally arrested and held on $30,000 bond, Brevard County Jail records show Nelson was released on Jan. 9.