How to sue a con-artist who conned lots of $$ from my daughter

[Lia]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA, Pierce county

My daughter's coworker who turned out to be a drug addict with criminal history in theft (since age 8) conned a lot of money out of my daughter. It was one horror story after another and my young and naive daughter believed her and thought that she was doing the right thing. It was all a "loan" that will be repaid on a certain date but then something else happened and she asked for more or she and her little kids will end up on the street etc, etc.

Local police opened a case 4 months ago and took all the evidence (western union transfers, record of phone texts followed by bank ATM withdrawals and names of other victims with police case #s) -- and today my daughter went to check and they told her that they closed the case.

She went to the courthouse and since small claims has $5K limit, they told her to get an attorney. Honestly I don't know what to do. We don't want this ex-coworker to get away with it and she has done the same to many other people including stealing from the elderly with dementia. She is a CNA and looks for work at retirement homes with residents who have dementia and Alzheimer.

How do we proceed? What kind of attorney do we contact? Can we do this without one? She already lost so much money Any advise will be appreciated.

PS She got fired from a retirement home for stealing money from a resident with dementia (other coworker saw it). The boss swept it "under the rag" to keep the reputation and nobody knew about it. There were a lot of complaints of missing items and money from residents during the time she worked there. Her boyfriend is a criminal too and did time for the robbery.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA, Pierce county

My daughter's coworker who turned out to be a drug addict with criminal history in theft (since age 8) conned a lot of money out of my daughter. It was one horror story after another and my young and naive daughter believed her and thought that she was doing the right thing. It was all a "loan" that will be repaid on a certain date but then something else happened and she asked for more or she and her little kids will end up on the street etc, etc.

Local police opened a case 4 months ago and took all the evidence (western union transfers, record of phone texts followed by bank ATM withdrawals and names of other victims with police case #s) -- and today my daughter went to check and they told her that they closed the case.

She went to the courthouse and since small claims has $5K limit, they told her to get an attorney. Honestly I don't know what to do. We don't want this ex-coworker to get away with it and she has done the same to many other people including stealing from the elderly with dementia. She is a CNA and looks for work at retirement homes with residents who have dementia and Alzheimer.

How do we proceed? What kind of attorney do we contact? Can we do this without one? She already lost so much money Any advise will be appreciated.

PS She got fired from a retirement home for stealing money from a resident with dementia (other coworker saw it). The boss swept it "under the rag" to keep the reputation and nobody knew about it. There were a lot of complaints of missing items and money from residents during the time she worked there. Her boyfriend is a criminal too and did time for the robbery.

Honestly, it would probably be more cost effective to simply take this as a lesson learned. Even if your daughter were to sue her and win, the odds of her ever collecting from her are slim to none and slim has left the building. The girl will never have anything to seize to get your daughter's money back. Its a shame that the police are unwilling to take the case further.

 

[Lia]

We already realized that we won't see a penny. How to prevent her to get employment at senior communities -- that's the only places she targets and not for the paycheck. Somehow the only criminal thing she has on her record is getting caught for stealing at Ross at age of 8. After that she never had anything in writing when she "borrowed" and when she steals from someone with Alzheimer, unless there's a witness, there's no proof.

 

[Just Blue]

We already realized that we won't see a penny. How to prevent her to get employment at senior communities -- that's the only places she targets and not for the paycheck. Somehow the only criminal thing she has on her record is getting caught for stealing at Ross at age of 8. After that she never had anything in writing when she "borrowed" and when she steals from someone with Alzheimer, unless there's a witness, there's no proof.

How did you find out all this information about her?

 

[quincy]

We already realized that we won't see a penny. How to prevent her to get employment at senior communities -- that's the only places she targets and not for the paycheck. Somehow the only criminal thing she has on her record is getting caught for stealing at Ross at age of 8. After that she never had anything in writing when she "borrowed" and when she steals from someone with Alzheimer, unless there's a witness, there's no proof.

What was your daughter told by the police when she asked why the police were not charging the coworker? Did the police see the money given by your daughter to the coworker as a bad loan rather than theft?

How did your daughter learn that the coworker has been stealing at her places of employment if these thefts did not result in arrests/charges/convictions?

How does your daughter know about the theft at age 8? That would be sealed.

I advise your daughter to not speak of this coworker's alleged crimes without proof of truth. Your daughter could be sued for defamation.

Your daughter can consult with an attorney about suing the coworker over the unpaid loan.

 

[Lia]

All information about coworker came from her mother who was "supposed" to bring a check for my daughter and was even texting her from another # but that never happened (it was a coworker all along). I found a real phone # for her mother and she was not aware of any business with my daughter but told me about the drug abuse and that case from childhood and that she stole from her too and was not welcome at her house. Also she told me about many other victims who were very helpful in giving me their police report #s. But our police is understaffed and has more important things to take care of, right?

My daughter heard that other coworkers had issues with the thieving one and she asked about it after she realized that she will not get her money back. One was a witness who saw her take money from resident's wallet -- that ended with her being fired and no police report was filed as boss is trying to protect the reputation of their retirement home. The other ones borrowed and never got it back. And one even allowed her to live with her only to get ATM card stolen and money taken from her account. We all thought that so many victims would make a good case. One more victim was a 92 years old elderly with dementia whom she visited and told my daughter he was her grandpa (she asked for a ride to visit him and then go to the bank where he gave her money). Her mother said that she doesn't have a grandpa in that retirement home so my daughter told the office what was happening and they contacted his daughter who filed a restraining order. Turned out she is a girlfriend of his grandson who already stole a lot of money from grandpa and has a restraining order.

There are many many facts but for some reason they are not enough to put her behind bars or at least prevent her from working with vulnerable people. She's probably working at some other retirement home now and stealing, scamming, conning.

 

[quincy]

All information about coworker came from her mother who was "supposed" to bring a check for my daughter and was even texting her from another # but that never happened (it was a coworker all along). I found a real phone # for her mother and she was not aware of any business with my daughter but told me about the drug abuse and that case from childhood and that she stole from her too and was not welcome at her house. Also she told me about many other victims who were very helpful in giving me their police report #s. But our police is understaffed and has more important things to take care of, right?

My daughter heard that other coworkers had issues with the thieving one and she asked about it after she realized that she will not get her money back. One was a witness who saw her take money from resident's wallet -- that ended with her being fired and no police report was filed as boss is trying to protect the reputation of their retirement home. The other ones borrowed and never got it back. And one even allowed her to live with her only to get ATM card stolen and money taken from her account. We all thought that so many victims would make a good case. One more victim was a 92 years old elderly with dementia whom she visited and told my daughter he was her grandpa (she asked for a ride to visit him and then go to the bank where he gave her money). Her mother said that she doesn't have a grandpa in that retirement home so my daughter told the office what was happening and they contacted his daughter who filed a restraining order. Turned out she is a girlfriend of his grandson who already stole a lot of money from grandpa and has a restraining order.

There are many many facts but for some reason they are not enough to put her behind bars or at least prevent her from working with vulnerable people. She's probably working at some other retirement home now and stealing, scamming, conning.

Thank you for answering my questions.

Your daughter can consult with an attorney about suing the coworker for failure to repay the loan.

Good luck to her.