A caretaker from Pontiac has been slapped with felony charges after allegedly fleecing an 85-year-old Bloomfield Township woman out of a staggering $160,000, law enforcement officials said. Marivelis Serrano, 48, was arraigned on multiple counts, including a serious charge of embezzlement of $100,000 or more, a crime that could lock her away for up to two decades if she's convicted, as per township police sources.
According to a report by The Detroit News, the accusations don't stop at embezzlement; Serrano is facing a total of 18 counts, with 12 instances of uttering and publishing, and five counts of identity theft thrown into the mix, with each carrying its own heavy penalty. A judge has set her bond at $50,000, ensuring that Serrano appears for her next scheduled court hearing on Tuesday, but Serrano's attorney, Brandon Kizy, has kept mum, offering no comment on Wednesday.
The alleged scam came to light after a complaint surfaced in January about possible financial exploitation of the elderly resident, according to court documents detailed by ClickOnDetroit. Further investigation by detectives found that Serrano had shifted the victim's cash into her own bank account and then squandered thousands on online gambling. In a spree of shopping, Serrano is also accused of illicitly wielding the senior's debit card to drop over $6,200 at Amazon and another $3,600 through Instacart.
Serrano's trusted position as the elderly woman's caretaker involved house cleaning and providing transportation, among other day-to-day tasks, "The Bloomfield Township Police Department takes crime against vulnerable members of our community very seriously and is committed to finding justice for the victims," a release from the police department stated, as reported by The Oakland Press. Serrano surrendered to the 48th District Court.
