Caregiver gets 5 years; stole from woman who suffered stroke

A Georgia caregiver who stole nearly $20,000 from a client who suffered a stroke was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison.

Julia Maria Bell, 50, worked as a live-in caregiver for a Kennesaw woman from late 2016 to the end of 2017. During her employment, Bell gained access to her client’s finances and used various credit cards belonging to her client for her own use, the Cobb County District Attorney wrote on Facebook.

After Bell opened a credit card in her own name using her client’s Costco Visa account and spent nearly $6,000 in one month, the client’s relatives discovered unusual charges and checks in the woman’s account, prosecutors added. She was convicted earlier this month on four counts of elder abuse.

“This defendant was defiant to the end, insisting she had done nothing wrong. Thankfully, the jury disagreed,” Senior Assistant District Attorney Jason Marbutt said in a statement. “The evidence overwhelmingly showed that this defendant manipulated a vulnerable victim and charged thousands of dollars for her own benefit.”

Aside from her prison term, Bell was given 10 years on probation, and ordered to pay more than $19,000 in restitution to her former client and her former client’s family.