Nov. 21--Greenwood Police said it's rare for a case to come to them with most of the investigation already complete. That's what they said happened when they got video files from a man who believed his father's caregiver was stealing from him.
"The victim basically set a trap to catch this woman," said Detective Brent Goebel, Greenwood Police Department.
Police got a series of videos from the man's son, John, who had set up two cameras inside of his father's home. He also placed four packets of $1,000 in the home in areas where the caregiver would walk. He documented the serial numbers of the bills in the packets and took photos of how the house looked before the woman came over.
Then, he waited. He ended up with video evidence of the woman stealing two of the packets of bills, according to officials.
Officers arrested Rebecca Wheeler for theft. Goebel said Wheeler was not cooperative and didn't show up for on her appointment to meet with officers. She paid her bond of $3,000 to get out of the Johnson County Jail and is currently facing a Class D Felony charge.
"The video is so clear, because of how it was set up and where the cameras were placed, you compare the woman in the photos to this BMV photo [of Wheeler] and it's the same woman," said Goebel.
John said he believes Wheeler stole about $5,000 from his father during the past two months.
Wheeler's employer, Caregivers Health, suspended her after they found out about the investigation. A woman with the human resources department said Wheeler had been with the company for about a year and no other clients had filed complaints against her.
Copyright 2011 - WXIN-TV, Indianapolis
