Mother, daughter arrested for abusive exploitation of 87-year-old Hialeah woman – NBC 6 South Florida

A mother and her daughter were arrested in what authorities say was the abusive exploitation of an 87-year-old Hialeah woman.

Anntoinette Deloris Woods, 49, and her 32-year-old daughter, Sharanda Patrice Coach, were arrested Thursday on charges of exploitation of an elderly person, organized scheme to defraud, neglect of an elderly person and child abuse. “an elderly person,” said Miami. -The Dade State Attorney's Office said.

Authorities said the victim had lived at her home in Hialeah since moving from Tennessee with her husband and disabled son in 1959.

Neighbors became concerned after not seeing the woman for a while and observing “strange activities” at the home, including seeing the woman's belongings put on the street for disposal, said officials said.

Neighbors reported their concerns to Hialeah police, and on April 30, officers conducted a welfare check at the home.

Officers met with Woods, who told them she was the woman's caregiver, and presented a power of attorney and medical documents for the woman, authorities said.

Woods told investigators that she met the elderly woman at the medical office where she worked and that the elderly woman asked her to help care for her disabled adult son, who died in February 2022.

After the son's death, Woods said she took on the role of caretaker for the woman and moved into the home with several members of Woods' family, authorities said.

Woods also told police that the elderly woman lived with Woods in his Miami apartment and had done so since August 2023.

When police visited the apartment in Miami's Overtown neighborhood, they met with Coach and the elderly woman, who said Coach had taken care of her in the apartment.

But police deemed the elderly woman's living conditions unacceptable: She lived in a room without a bed, forcing her to sleep in a recliner, authorities said.

The room was small and cluttered with various items, including a disassembled bed frame, large black trash bags filled with unknown objects, and a folded walker and wheelchair out of reach of the elderly woman. authorities said.

“She was in a bedroom, there was no bed, she was in a recliner, which obviously is where she slept and unfortunately couldn't go to the bathroom. She didn't have no walker to the bathroom,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

The woman also had facial bruising, a large cut on her forearm and apparent injuries to her wrist and arm.

She was taken to a hospital where she was found to have broken bones in her right arm and red, warm skin on her legs, indicating an infection, authorities said.

Woods said the fractures were from a fall in the bathroom, but medical staff said the injuries suggested they were not simply the result of a fall, authorities said.

It was also determined that the woman was malnourished and her pacemaker needed new batteries, indicating she had not seen a cardiologist in a long time, authorities said.

“She had broken bones, he had bruises, she was malnourished. She wasn't getting the nutrition she needed and most importantly, she had a pacemaker and the battery needed to be replaced,” Fernandez Rundle said.

The woman told investigators she was experiencing pain and swelling in her legs so severe that she feared they would explode, but said that when she spoke to Woods and Coach about her urgent need to see a doctor, they sent her away and insisted that she did not need medical attention. be careful, authorities said.

She added that she was often left home alone during the day and usually subsisted on Wendy's hamburgers and other fast foods, but usually ate only one meal a day, according to reports. indicated those responsible.

Woods and Coach were incarcerated. Both then appeared in court where Woods' bail was set at $72,500 and Couch's bail was set at $62,500.

“Imagine, everything this woman worked for all her life, her house, all her possessions, were thrown to the side of the street in a big pile. Everything she knew, cared about and worked for worked so hard was on the street.” » said Fernandez Rundle.