Some charges dismissed, others held for trial against caretaker
LANSDALE — A woman accused of stealing and using the credit card of an elderly man for whom she was working as a caretaker had the most serious charges filed against her — eight counts of third-degree felony identity theft — dismissed after a 20-minute preliminary hearing in Lansdale district court on Tuesday afternoon.
But District Judge Harold Borek held for trial four other misdemeanor criminal counts lodged against 33-yearold Alesha Inez Olinick: Two counts of access device fraud and one count each of theft and receiving stolen property.
Lansdale police said that on Feb. 4, the son of an elderly couple living at the Elm Terrace Gardens retirement community in the borough — who had power of attorney over his parents’ affairs — reported that while visiting them two days earlier, on Feb. 2, he discovered eight unauthorized transactions made with his father’s credit card, for a total of $296.97, between Jan. 11 and Jan. 14 at several locations in Montgomery, Bucks and Chester counties.
After noticing the fraudulent charges, police said, the man checked his father’s wallet and discovered his credit card was missing.
As Olinick sat quietly at the defendant’s table next to her attorney, Paul Lang, the alleged victim’s son testified about his discovery of the purportedly illicit transactions and, under direct examination, told the court that his father passed away on Feb. 17.
During questioning, the man began to testify that during a conversation with his late father about the credit card statement, his father had told him he suspected one of the people looking after him had stolen the card, but Lang stood and objected, arguing that the testimony was hearsay and that there is no hearsay exception for a deceased victim. Borek overruled Lang’s objection, but Lang protested again, attempting to cite legal precedent, and Borek testily overruled him again.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in district court on Feb. 19, five days before Olinick was taken into custody, Lansdale police said that detectives obtained video surveillance footage from an unspecified location that showed Olinick using the stolen credit card to make illicit purchases.
During testimony on Tuesday, a Lansdale detective entered into evidence still photographs that he said were taken from surveillance video at a ShopRite in Hatfield Township on Jan. 13 and a Wawa in Bucks County on Jan. 14 that showed Olinick purchasing items with the card.
However, the detective testified, he was unable to obtain surveillance video for the six other alleged fraudulent transactions. Under cross-examination by Lang, the detective also testified that it was not possible to determine from the photos that the credit card allegedly being used by Olinick was the victim’s card.
Borek ruled that the prosecution did not provide enough evidence to warrant holding the eight counts of felony identity theft, but the judge decided that Olinick should be tried on the remaining four counts in county court.
She’s due to be formally arraigned in Norristown on April 23.
No change was made to Olinick’s bail, which Borek set at 10 percent of $10,000 cash at her Feb. 24 preliminary arraignment. Court records show Olinick spent three days behind bars at Montgomery County Correctional Facility before posting $1,000 cash on Feb. 27.
Follow staff writer Michael Goldberg on Twitter @mg_thereporter.