MIAMI – A caretaker from Revital Medical Center was arrested on fraud charges after police said she stole nearly $1 million from an elderly woman she was looking after in Coral Gables.
According to the arrest report, Marie Petit-Louis, 39, was one of three full-time caretakers for Annette Reff, who is now deceased.
Detectives said from January 2010 to July 2012, Petit-Louis exploited the victim out of $928,529.44 They said she did this by closing several of the Reff's financial accounts and depositing the funds into her personal Wells Fargo accounts.
Detectives also said Petit-Louis identified herself as Reff in numerous calls made to Fidelity Investment to liquidate the victim's investments and have checks mailed to Reff's house. Those funds were then deposited into the suspect's accounts.
According to police, Petit-Louis told officers that Reff gave her the money willingly, but Reff's daughter said that isn't true, and said her mother told her so on her deathbed.
"She was cognizant on some of the questions, and they asked her, 'Did you give her money to give to her Haitian church,' and her answer was 'I'm Jewish, I would never give her money for that,'" said Officer Kelly Denham of the Coral Gables Police Dept.
After further investigation, detectives also found that Petit-Louis gambled away more than $8 million at the Magic City Casino in Miami. It is unclear from where she got the additional money.
Petit-Louis faces a charge of exploitation of an elderly/disabled person. She is being held in jail on $250,000 bond.
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