Woman sentenced for stealing from elderly
A woman twice convicted of stealing from the elderly was sentenced Tuesday to four years in jail for again taking cash, checks and credit cards from victims at two assisted living facilities in San Diego County where she briefly worked, state prosecutors said.
Nema Yasin Mohamed, 28, used her sister’s identity to get jobs at the elderly care facilities after her two previous convictions barred her from working at such sites, according to state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office.
Prosecutors charged Mohamed last year with 31 felonies in connection with a series of thefts at La Vida Del Mar in Solana Beach and Wesley Palms Senior Living in Pacific Beach, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by the Attorney General’s Office.
Prosecutors said Mohamed stole from at least seven victims, most of them at La Vida Del Mar, resulting in a total loss of about $18,000. She worked at the Solana Beach site for less than two months in May and June 2018, and at Wesley Palms for about eight days in January 2019.
Mohamed pleaded guilty in May to four felony charges of financial elder abuse, fraudulent use of access card information, grand theft and identity theft with a prior conviction. Mohamed’s attorney asked for a grant of probation, but San Diego Superior Court Judge Laura Halgren sentenced her to four years in custody, which she will serve in county jail.
According to prosecutors, Mohamed was previously convicted on charges of financial elder abuse and placed on probation for a term of five years, which barred her from working at elderly care homes. She used her sister’s identity — through coercion and threats — to find work at assisted living facilities.
An agent from the California Department of Justice’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse investigated the case against Mohamed. According to that investigation detailed in the sentencing memorandum, Mohamed also used her sister’s identity to get a job at Harrah’s Resort Southern California in Valley Center, where she allegedly stole customers’ credit card information.