Two women in Enfield, Connecticut, have been arrested following an investigation into the exploitation of an elderly woman they were caring for. Brenda Whitehead, 32, of Manchester, and Charlene Wheeler, 60, of Enfield, face charges of first-degree larceny and insurance fraud after it was discovered they had cashed hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks from the woman’s bank account.
Between June 2022 and July 2023, Whitehead deposited 34 checks totaling $134,362 from the elderly woman’s account. The theft came to light when a nursing case manager raised concerns about financial exploitation, which were later echoed by family members of the victim. The investigation revealed that over the span of two years, Whitehead and Wheeler had cashed numerous checks drawn from the woman’s account.
Documents from the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program, purportedly signed by the victim, matched the handwriting of the accused women. Additionally, even after the victim was hospitalized in January 2024, Wheeler and Whitehead continued submitting invoices for in-home care services, despite the victim being under a higher level of care at the hospital.
The woman’s appointed conservator also reported that whenever he tried to meet with the victim, he faced resistance from Wheeler and Whitehead, with some appointments even being canceled. The women were arrested on warrants and held on a $100,000 bond each. The investigation is ongoing, with detectives suspecting further exploitation of the elderly woman’s finances.
