Florida Home Health Aide Arrested For Stealing Credit Card From Pancreatic Cancer Patient

A Florida home health aide has been accused of stealing the credit card of a terminally ill cancer patient. Her son later went on a spending spree with the card.

The aide, identified as Kimberley Diggins working for BrightStar Care, was held on Monday for stealing from a bedridden woman who had stage-four pancreatic cancer on Sept. 2.

Diggins was called in to replace another caregiver who had a family emergency. She was at the house of the victim until 10.45 am that day. The bank card was stolen while the patient slept next to her husband, according to a report from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

The patient was on powerful painkillers and her mental state was so diminished. Her husband said she was in the final hours of life.

The woman usually kept her credit cards in her purse, and Diggins positioned herself near it to keep an eye on the patient and her husband as they slept.

She took the visa card and let her teen son and two other kids spend money at the Walmart located at Murdock Circle in Port Charlotte. They spend at least $754.77, the local ABC news affiliate reported.

Diggins was charged with several counts, including exploiting an elderly or disabled adult and grand theft property.

The case resembled that of Danielle Conti, a 43-year-old nurse accused of swiping 70-year-old Anthony Catapano’s credit card while making her rounds at the Staten Island University Hospital in April.

Conti used the card to purchase groceries and gas while the patient was on a ventilator. The patient died three days later from COVID-19 complications, and his daughter reported the theft after realizing the charges made on the card, the New York Daily News reported.