Police charge care provider with stealing from patient

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Samantha Bergeron -CONTRIBUTED

NAUGATUCK — Police have arrested a home health care provider after they say she stole from the patient she was caring for over an eight-month period last year.

Samantha Bergeron, 30, of 58 Williams St., Thomaston, was arrested Jan. 4 on an active arrest warrant and charged with larceny in the fourth degree, illegal use of credit card and identity theft in the third degree.

Naugatuck police spokesman Lt. Bryan Cammarata said between January and August of last year Bergeron withdrew $3,873 from the victim’s Webster Bank account using the victim’s debit card and also used roughly $2,500 in EBT and social security benefits meant for the victim over that time.

At the time, Bergeron was a care giver with Independent Living Solutions out of Waterbury and caring for the victim, a 52-year-old Naugatuck man, Cammarata said. She has since been dismissed from the company following an internal investigation, he said.

Cammarata said the withdrawals from the bank account caused the victim’s bills to go unpaid. On Sept. 10, the victim’s brother reported a possible larceny to Naugatuck police, Cammarata said.

When Bergeron was brought in for questioning, Cammarata said she told investigators that as part of her job she would go shopping, out to eat and to the movies, among other activities, with the victim. Cammarata said she told police all of the money withdrawn was spent on the victim and used for his care. She told police she never took any of the money or spent any on herself, Cammarata said.

Cammarata said the investigation found no significant purchases made by Bergeron over that time, but police were able to secure a warrant for her arrest following a lengthy investigation.

Bergeron was arraigned in Waterbury Superior Court on Jan. 4. According to online records, she was released on a promise to appear and is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 6.