Word to the “Older and Wiser”: Keep Your Deed. Pick Your Caregivers Carefully.

Nora R. of Baltimore is struggling in a way no adult child ever should. Nora’s dad died in South Carolina. What happened to his deed? This is the true story, currently unfolding.

The father was receiving care at home after suffering a traumatic brain injury. His caregiver, Sarah S., turned out to be manipulating rather than caregiving. She was arrested in South Carolina and charged with fraud and elder exploitation, court records reveal. She’s now out on bail.

Nora says Sarah neglected and abused her father and pressured him to sign over the deed to a $300K home for five dollars.

Cascade of Tragic Surprises

After not hearing from him on her birthday or Father’s Day, Nora took a trip to South Carolina.

She got there to find a cascade of tragic surprises. Her dad had passed away three days earlier. When he died, the deed had been transferred to, and recorded by, Sarah—who insists the deed is hers.

Along with the lost deed, there were tens of thousands of dollars gone from Nora’s dad’s bank accounts.

Unbelievably, Nora’s story gets still worse.

Sarah had taken the elderly man out of his own longtime home. She moved him into a continuing care property. Nora had no idea. And then, Sarah moved into his home.

Notes taken about Nora’s father in the care home described the elderly man as suffering hallucinations during the time he signed over a power of attorney and the deed to his home. He died weighing less than 90 pounds.

Sarah is likely to get a plea deal. She had no criminal record prior to this case. Sarah is still living in Nora’s dad’s house, and Nora has no way to get her to leave. Currently, Nora is taking Sarah to civil court.

North Texas Boarding Home Scandal

Federal prosecutors are looking into the reasons a senior signed over power of attorney and lost the deed to her longtime home in Garland, Texas. What’s more, investigative reporters found that the suspect was known to Texas officials for years.

In 2024, the investigative news team at WFAA investigated a cluster of Texas boarding homes. There were serious abuse claims involving seniors and disabled people. (The news story was shocking enough to result in new protective laws going into effect in 2025.)

It was Donella L., one of the operators of the investigated care homes, who used a power of attorney to transfer the Garland senior’s home. Prosecutors allege that Donella then used the proceeds from that deal to buy a new home while saying the funds were a “cash gift” from her daughter. Donella and two others have been charged with conspiracy to make false statements to a financial institution and actually making those statements to the institution.

The senior has since passed away.

Records in the case describe boarding home residents as afraid of Donella. Since 2019, state regulators have been receiving complaints involving neglect and abuse in Donella’s boarding homes—including at one home whose deed had been taken from a senior who lived in it.

Donella and a relative have since been barred from operating care homes and fined by a civil court. There’s more. Donella has done time for an Indiana fraud case involving dozens of mortgage loans. And another of Donella’s relatives was indicted in a federal court in August, charged with stealing Social Security benefits from a deceased resident of one of the investigated boarding homes.

The Power of Thinking Ahead

Senior deed holders, plan for the time you can no longer manage your affairs. Consider creating a trust to hold the deed to your home. Power of attorney should go to someone physically close to you. Know who your caregivers will be and their reputation for trustworthiness before you have to rely on them.