Woman charged with spending thousands using bank card belonging to St. George assisted living senior

ST. GEORGE — A woman suspected of buying thousands of dollars in merchandise using a bank card belonging to an elderly man she was paid to care for was arrested during a traffic stop in Hurricane Monday.

Stock image, St. George News

The suspect, 42-year-old Tracy Louise Hance, was stopped shortly after 5 p.m. on West State Street in Hurricane for expired tags and was arrested on an active warrant.

Police said the officer recognized Hance as a suspect in an unrelated criminal investigation involving an older man who was reportedly defrauded while staying at one of the care facilities in the area, according to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.

The report also states Hance was driving a vehicle that matched the make and model investigators were looking for.

Hurricane Police Officer Dan Raddatz told St. George News the incident was reported to police on Jan. 18 when they received a call about a bank card used to make a series of purchases without the knowledge or consent of the account holder.

Investigators also learned the credit card belonged to an older man who was a resident of an assisted living facility in Hurricane. Hance had worked as a caretaker at the same facility until November when she was “let go” by the company, police reported.

While working at the facility, police say  Hance used the resident’s bank card to make a series of purchases that were discovered during a review of the man’s bank statements, many of which were made at the Walmart located on State Street in Hurricane. The caller told officers he had only authorized the suspect to use his bank card to buy beer “when he needed it … but nothing else,” the officer noted.

Investigators viewed the store’s surveillance footage that coincided with the dates and times of the fraudulent purchases. The footage reportedly showed a woman making the purchases investigators later matched to a DMV photo of the suspect.

During Monday’s traffic stop, the driver initially told police she had no license on her and then identified herself using the name of an individual who ended up being a “real person” who closely matched the identifying information as provided by the suspect. But when officers matched a photo with the name of the individual, they found it was not the suspect. After several minutes, the suspect was identified as Hance.

Officers discovered an active warrant for the suspect’s arrest during a records check, and she was taken into custody by police.

While speaking to officers, Hance admitted to using the complainant’s debit card for purchases, police say, but she said she and the caller had a written agreement that allowed her to use the card to make purchases for both herself and the owner of the card — also one of the residents in the same assisted living center. When officers asked to see the written agreement, the suspect could not provide a copy of it.

The suspect also told officers that in all, she spent an estimated $3,600 using the victim’s card.

The suspect was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and was booked into jail facing one third-degree felony count of reckless financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. She also faces one count each of false personal information with intent to be another actual person, possession of marijuana and paraphernalia and driving on a suspended license,  each a misdemeanor. The charges were filed on Tuesday.

The suspect was released from jail and is scheduled to make an initial appearance in 5th District Court in St. George on March 20.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!