Latrice Merriweather, 61, was arrested Oct. 10 at a Carmel assisted-living facility and faces charges of fraud where the victim is endangered, fraud, theft and exploitation of an endangered adult, according to WTHR’s account of court documents. Her pretrial conference is scheduled for Dec. 16, the station reported.
Alleged charges and card-use limits
The reported transactions involved a Discover card that the patient rarely used. A caregiver reported on Oct. 5 that the card had been taken and used for unwanted purchases, WTHR reported. Caregivers were allowed to use the patient’s Amex card for prescriptions, but the patient told investigators that use of the Discover card was not authorized, according to the station’s account of the filings.
Court documents put the alleged purchases at $2,219.61 from Sept. 13 to Sept. 19 at Walmart, Ross and Old Navy locations in Indianapolis, Whitestown and Chicago, WTHR reported. Merriweather reportedly told police she had spent close to $3,000.
Investigation and allegations
Walmart surveillance video helped detectives identify a suspect, according to WTHR’s account. The patient’s caregiver team identified Merriweather in the footage and told police it suspected she made the Chicago purchases because she had family there and traveled to the city often.
WTHR reported that Merriweather initially denied having a reason to use a resident’s bank card for unauthorized purchases. After officers showed her images, she acknowledged making the purchases, said she had the card for a couple of days and said she discarded it because she knew its use was wrong.
Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration describes an endangered adult as someone whose incapacity prevents them from managing their property or providing self-care and who is harmed or threatened through neglect, battery or exploitation; its Adult Protective Services materials define exploitation to include unauthorized use of an endangered adult’s property for someone’s benefit.
Indiana APS case totals
Indiana’s 17 Adult Protective Services units managed 11,532 cases in 2024, according to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s annual report. That total covers APS cases generally, not financial-exploitation cases alone.
A separate caregiver case in Livonia, Michigan, involved charges against Susan Honjas after an 86-year-old woman and her family reported repeated $500 ATM withdrawals and unauthorized credit-card transactions, ClickOnDetroit reported.
