BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. (TCN) — Authorities arrested a housekeeper on suspicion of assaulting her elderly employer and robbing her because she didn’t get the Christmas bonus she wanted.
According to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, Heather Nelson “demanded a $500 Christmas bonus” from her 83-year-old client. When the woman said she didn’t have enough money, Nelson allegedly physically assaulted and robbed her.
Deputies described Nelson as a “Grinch.” The sheriff’s office alleges Nelson took her employer’s checkbook, wrote out a stolen check for $1,400 for her bonus, and used the victim’s credit card to pay her rent and make other purchases.
In a statement obtained by WOFL-TV, public information officer of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Tod Goodyear said Nelson took the check “by force” and “attempted to take quite a bit from this woman.”
Goodyear added, “Based on what she was using the monies for, she was in financial trouble. 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 also allegedly stole Christmas cards from her client and nearly broke her wrist.
Goodyear stated, “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.”
Nelson was booked into the Brevard County Jail on Jan. 7 on charges of robbery by sudden snatching, aggravated battery on a person over 65, forgery, uttering a forged instrument, criminal use of personal identification, fraudulent use of a credit card, and grand theft. Records show she was released Jan. 9.
According to the sheriff’s office, while she was being arrested, Nelson said she was worried officials were “going to blast her all over Facebook and make her look bad.”
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