Nurse's Aide Drains Patient's CUAccounts

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - (08/02/04) -- A former nurse's assistant atHomestead Hills Retirement Community was charged last week withsiphoning almost $290,000 in savings from the Allegacy FCU accountsof an 88-year-old resident. The ex-aide, Marilyn Ashworth, ofThomasville, obtained the Social Security number and other personalidentification of her patient, Clara Morris. She then used theinformation and a doctored 'Durable Power of Attorney' posing heras Morris's granddaughter, to transfer the balance of threeaccounts into her own account at the credit union, police said.Morris has been convicted in the past of other fraud-relatedcharges, including making a false insurance claim.