Southwest IL home health care provider sentenced for stealing identities of elderly

A caretaker who stole the identities of her elderly clients was sentenced to more than a year in federal prison by a judge Wednesday in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

Erica S. Rose, 31, of East Saint Louis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft last November. She was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and an additional two years of supervised release.

In 2018, Rose worked for a CareLink, a home healthcare service for the elderly. According to the charges against her, she stole social security numbers and other identifying information and passed the stolen information along to a co-defendant, Ashley McKinney, who has not been convicted of any related crimes.

The charges allege that McKinney used victims’ identities to withdraw money from automated teller machines, deposit fraudulent checks, and purchase a car online for over $28,000.

There is an outstanding warrant for McKinney’s arrest in this case, according to a release from the federal court.

As part of her sentence, Rose was ordered to pay $9,864.71 in restitution.

The investigation was conducted by detectives from the Edwardsville Police Department, Belleville Police Department, Swansea Police Department, and St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office, the release stated.

This story was originally published April 22, 2021 at 11:42 AM.