USA: Home caretaker accused of stealing $770,000 from elderly woman

. SEATTLE, WA / The Seattle Times / February 26, 2009 By Sharon Pian Chan, Seattle Times staff reporter A nursing assistant has been accused of supporting her gambling habit by stealing more than $770,000 from an elderly woman she was caring for in Kirkland. Temalesi M. Morgan, 47, was charged today with 22 counts of first-degree theft in King County Superior Court. The alleged victim had been diagnosed with dementia and found Morgan through Visiting Angel employment agency in 2006, according to charging papers. Her son and daughter became concerned after a conversation with the woman's broker, and convinced their mother to give the daughter power of attorney. When the daughter and her husband looked through her accounts they found large ATM withdrawals at nearby casinos such as the Golden Nugget, the Kenmore Lanes card room, Goldie's, Drift on Inn and Silver Dollar, according to charging documents. The woman, who uses a wheelchair, had not left her house in over a year, the documents said. She had given Morgan permission to use her ATM card for groceries, cigarettes or cat food, according to charging papers. Investigators found that Morgan had withdrawn close to $200,000 from the woman's accounts at various ATMs, according to the charging papers. They believe Morgan also withdrew $508,000 from her investment account, wrote $42,000 in checks to Morgan's boyfriend and family and ran up $15,500 in charges on her credit cards, according to court documents. The documents also say Morgan racked up $2,746 on her phone bill making calls to Fiji, where she is from. Morgan, who lives in Edmonds, was arrested on Feb. 18. According to court documents, she told police she "had a gambling problem and it was an illness." She is being held in King County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company