A Filipina caregiver in Canada was set to be sent to jail for one year after stealing a total of $260,000 from the bank account of a couple in a matter of 16 months.
The defendant, identified as Antonette Dizon, aged 50, pleaded guilty over a single count of fraud and admitted that she stole $1000 from the bank account of the couple every day for the past 16 months.
The Provincial Judge who handled the case of the Filipina, Judge Robin McQuillan, gave a 12-month sentence to Dizon followed by 18 months of probation.
“She had unlimited opportunities to reflect on what she was doing and to correct or at least stop her conduct. She did not do so,” says Judge McQuillan.
On September 2014, Dizon started serving both 86-year-old couples, Henry and Helen Abfalter inside a retirement home.
The elderly couple suffers deteriorating health and needs help when it comes to their day-to-day activities, which includes trips to the bank. During these trips, Dizon came to memorize the PIN number of the couple.
Henry Abfalter became totally ill and got admitted to the hospital. It was then that Dizon stole the debit card of the victim and started making daily withdraws most of the time around the daily limit of $1,000.
Dizon became so close to the couple that in the funeral of Mr. Abfalter in September, the daughter of Dizon sang. Even after her work with the Abfalters, Dizon still managed to keep her relationship with the family of Abfalter.
Despite the goodness that Dizon showed to the family, she also continually stole money from the bank account.
It was on April 2016 when the crime was busted by the daughter of the victim. From $490,000, the money shrunk into $200,000. Dizon was arrested.
Mrs. Abfalters couldn’t believe that the perpetrator was her friend. By the time that Dizon was arrested, she was almost left with nothing as her assets were seized to recoup the missing funds.
There is still an outstanding balance of $105,000 and Dizon needs to pay it, as per court orders.
