York Crown Court in the UK has sentenced caregiver Cheryl Louise Pratt to two years in jail for stealing £17,000 ($22,551) from elderly and vulnerable people to spend on gambling and takeouts.
The court handed down its sentence on Tuesday to the 35-year-old York native who worked as a senior support worker at a care home.
unusual banking account activity
According to Yorkshire Live, a brother of one of Pratt’s victims spotted unusual banking account activity, which led to an internal investigation, Pratt getting fired from her job, and a North Yorkshire Police investigation.
The police probe revealed that Pratt created multiple online accounts in the names of the residents at the care home before shifting money from their bank accounts. Pratt then transferred the money from the online accounts into her own account, using the cash to spend “huge sums of money on gambling websites,” takeouts, clothes, and gifts for her family.
Pratt told police investigators that she made all the withdrawals with the approval of the account holders. A doctor overseeing the care home patients, however, overruled Pratt’s claim, stating that “none of the victims would have been able to provide true consent.”
As such, Pratt was charged with five counts of fraud. Speaking in York Crown Court, Detective Constable Oliver Dalby said Pratt’s offense was “cold, cruel and calculated.”
DC Dalby said the senior caregiver targeted the residents she knew were the “most vulnerable to financial exploitation.”
“The victims and her former colleagues have been left utterly devastated by her actions, and it is right that she faces the consequences of her crimes.”
