Worker at Allegheny Township assisted living facility accused of stealing nearly $60K from resident

A woman working at an Alle­gheny Township assisted living facility is accused of stealing nearly $60,000 from a resident and permitting him to stay in the facility without paying rent, according to police.

Allegheny Township police filed 19 charges against Tanya Lynn Palmer, 50, of Apollo that include theft, theft by deception, financial exploitation of an older adult or care dependent person, receiving stolen property, accessing a device issued to another person who did not authorize use and forgery.

Police say Palmer had taken roughly $59,600 from an 81-year-old man living in the Pleasant Ridge Mature Living Facility between 2022 and last year.

Police also accused Palmer of preventing $49,000 of rent collection to the facility’s prior owners in 2022 to last year and $4,400 of rent collection to the facility’s new owners, according to a criminal complaint.

Police were called to the assisted living facility Oct. 23 for a theft report. An officer spoke with the owner of CNE Family Properties LLC, which had recently purchased the facility.

The owner believed that Palmer had not only been stealing money from an 81-year-old resident, but also hiding his residency there so he didn’t have to pay rent, the complaint said.

The process by which residents are accounted for, the owner said, is handled by Palmer, who is the resident director. Palmer provided a monthly resident roster to the company’s accountant so the accountant could bill each resident.

The owner had also found several ATM withdrawals from the man’s account that he had no knowledge of, according to the complaint.

The facility’s previous owner told police that the man was served with an eviction notice in 2022. The previous owner said he was unaware that the man was still living in the facility, the complaint said.

The 81-year-old man told police he had been a resident at Pleasant Ridge since 2018. He said Palmer had permission to use his debit card only to purchase cigarettes and alcohol for him at his request, the complaint said.

When shown withdrawals, the man told police “that shouldn’t have happened” and “someone is ripping me off, and I think that someone is Tanya,” police said.

The following day, the facility owner called police and reported that Palmer gave her a $4,400 check for a resident’s rent. The owner said the account holder’s name on the check was blacked out and it was being returned by the bank.

When questioned about the check, that man told police that Palmer requested the check from him because she said he was behind in rent. He gave her a blank check for the rent he thought he owed but did not authorize her to pay anyone else’s rent with his money, the complaint said. His rent was up to date and he didn’t owe any money at the time, the complaint said.

When interviewed Jan. 2, Palmer admitted to hiding the 81-year-old man’s residency, police said. Palmer also admitted she took money from the man’s bank account without his knowledge or permission, the complaint said.

According to police, she also admitted to requesting a signed check from another resident, telling him he was behind on rent, blacking out his name on the check and submitting it for another resident’s rent without his knowledge.

Palmer faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 4 before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec.