Woman arrested for spending dying patient’s money in Charlotte County

A home health aide is accused of taking advantage of a woman who recently died. Investigators say the aide stole a bedridden woman’s credit card, gave it to three children and racked up hundreds of dollars in charges.

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office arrested Kimberley Diggins after she took three children to a Walmart and told them to use money she stole from her patient to buy electronics.

The patient’s husband noticed charges on the credit card and called deputies. That’s when they checked surveillance video and traced everything back to Diggins.

The patient’s husband hired Diggins to help at home to care for his wife in her last hours, as she was dying of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Instead of helping the patient, deputies say Diggins stole from her.

“That’s abuse, elderly abuse, and that’s against our nurses oath,” said Cynthia Williams, a home health nurse.

Williams says the actions Diggins is accused of are heartbreaking to learn about.

“We are supposed to protect the patients,” Williams aid. “Then again comes the oath, ‘Do no harm,’ and she obviously did harm.”

After taking the patient’s credit card, deputies say Diggins drove three children to Walmart, and they bought $715 in electronics with the stolen card.

“You don’t steal,” Williams said. “That’s just, from any human being, you don’t steal from anyone, especially an elderly person.”

The arrest report says Diggins told the children, “The people it belonged to would not be around much longer and won’t miss it.”

“That’s horrifying. It’s horrible,” Williams said. “They’ve worked all their lives for their money, and most of the elderly people these days, they don’t have a lot.”

Rich Kolko, WINK News Safety & Security Specialist, says there are precautions people should take to protect themselves if there strangers in their homes for any reason.

“Go ahead and put your valuables away,” Kolko said. “No reason to leave them out in the open for maybe just a crime of opportunity.”

The patient who Diggins is accused of stealing from died a few days after the theft. Diggins was a home health aide for Brightstar Care. The owner told law enforcement officers she started at the company in August. I reached out to BrightStar Care for comment and to see if she was fired. I’m still waiting to hear back.

Williams just wants people to know that Diggins does not reflect other hardworking home health aides who pour their hearts into caring for their patients.

“We are not representative of that,” Williams said. “We are good-hearted people.”