A 37-year-old senior caregiver with the Right At Home agency is facing a charge of exploitation of the elderly after allegedly taking a car and cash from an 86-year-old blind woman in her care.
Sharon W. DeMarsh was arrested after a family member noticed that the elderly woman’s grocery bill had increased by $500 per month after DeMarsh had been assigned as the woman’s non-medical caregiver, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
It was also discovered that DeMarsh had been driving the woman’s 2014 red Buick. DeMarsh claimed she had used the car to run the woman’s errands, but the investigation revealed DeMarsh had allowed her 17-year-old son to drive the car, unbeknownst to the owner. It also was revealed that DeMarsh fled to North Carolina in the Buick during Hurricane Matthew, without the elderly woman’s permission. DeMarsh had contended that her own Mini Cooper had been involved in a “major accident,” but the unblemished Mini Cooper was spotted at the elderly woman’s home, the arrest report indicated.
DeMarsh was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $4,000 bond.
