An 84-year-old widower in The Villages was reportedly victimized by a caretaker who stole from him and cast a spell over him.
Donna Michele Thomas, 53, was arrested Friday afternoon at the man’s home in the Village of Rio Ponderosa on multiple counts of fraud.
The former paratrooper purchased his home in The Villages in 1997, but lost his wife in 2013. He was in a clothing store in Leesburg when he met Thomas, according to family members.
She systematically wormed her way into his life, his bank accounts and his home.
By the time she was extricated from his home in The Villages this past Friday afternoon, she had written multiple checks to herself, was driving a Cadillac he had purchased for her, had an English Bulldog that required more than $300 a month in care and grooming, and she was wearing a $20,000 ring. Thomas wanted to wear the ring so there was no hint of “impropriety” when she went to church with him.
The man’s family is scattered throughout the United States. He moved to Florida’s Friendliest Hometown from Connecticut, where a son still lives.
Two weeks ago, when the depths of Thomas’ deception was coming to light, a granddaughter with training as a nurse made an emergency run to The Villages and took her grandfather, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, back to her home out of state. She was accompanied by a second granddaughter. They found their grandfather was malnourished and on multiple mind and pain numbing medications.
Thomas then asked the man’s family for $20,000 to vacate the Rio Ponderosa home. She wanted to be compensated for all “the care” she had provided. The family debated the options and at one point considered giving Thomas $5,000 to be rid of her.
But the granddaughter refused and booked a flight to Florida.
She returned to The Villages this past week to provide information to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. When Thomas was taken into custody, she had a safe in her bedroom which contained $10,000 in cash. She also had her 14-year-old grandson staying in the home.
Thomas had been released in 2014 from the Florida Department of Corrections after serving less than a year of a one-year-and- eight-month sentence on a charge of felony battery. She had originally been charged with attempted felony murder in the Lake County case.
Although family members were extensively interviewed for this story by Villages-News.com, they are not being identified, as the man is the victim of a crime.
As of Sunday night, Thomas was still being held at the Sumter County Detention Center.