Woman, 89, scammed by helper – DA

A Queens home health aide gave herself a nearly $100,000 raise by tricking a legally blind woman into signing away her savings, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Sita Saunders, 61, took care of her 89-year-old patient for a decade, and from March 2019 through last December, she made sure to take care of herself as well, prosecutors said.

She had her victim sign “inflated paychecks” and withdrew money for herself when she took the elderly woman to the bank to pay bills, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

“The victim’s son spotted irregularities and contacted my office. My team investigated, and the defendant is now charged with very serious crimes,” Katz said.

The victim’s son noticed money missing from her bank accounts in December 2019, and saw several checks written out to Saunders for far more than the $1,350 she was supposed to get each week, prosecutors allege. Saunders started tacking $1,000 and $2,000 on to her weekly paychecks that March, and investigators found nine inflated paychecks, giving her about $9,000 more than she was entitled, prosecutors said.

She became more brazen starting last February, taking the woman to her bank and going to the teller’s window on her behalf, while the victim sat in a waiting area, prosecutors said. Saunders siphoned more than $81,000 from the victim’s accounts over 17 separate bank trips, prosecutors said.

She was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court Tuesday on charges of identity theft, grand larceny and possession of stolen property and was released without bail.