A Rockland home health aide was sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 27, to up to 15 years in state prison after she forced a 78-year-old Pearl River man to sign checks of over $3,000 at knifepoint.
Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh II said Delores Anderson, 60, of the Bronx was sentenced to five to 15 years in state prison on five counts of second-degree grand larceny after she was convicted of threatening a man in her care with a knife and forcing him to sign personal checks.
Walsh said Anderson was employed as a live-in home caregiver for the man, who lived in a Pearl River senior assisted living complex, from December 2022 to August 2023.
Caregiver convicted: Caregiver convicted of forcing Pearl River man, 78, at knifepoint to sign checks
Bronx woman threatened man to sign checks at knifepoint
On May 5, 2023, Walsh said Anderson coerced the man into writing a personal check payable to herself by threatening him with a kitchen knife. The man wrote and handed Anderson two checks payable to her while at knifepoint totaling $4,082 each.
Walsh said Anderson again threatened the man on July 25, 2023 in his home with the same knife and pressed it against his stomach, demanding he write three additional checks. At knifepoint, he wrote two checks amounting $3,603 each and another amounting to $3,602. In total, Anderson withdrew $18,972 from the stolen checks after they were deposited.
Orangetown Police arrested Anderson in March 2024. She was convicted by a Rockland County grand jury of second-degree grand larceny on May 8 and sentenced by the Honorable Judge Kevin Russo in Rockland County Court on Wednesday, August 27.
“The defendant abused her position of trust to exploit and terrorize a vulnerable elderly man for her own financial gain,” said Walsh. “Today’s sentence ensures that she is held accountable for her crimes. My office will continue to pursue justice for those who target the elderly and prey upon our most vulnerable residents.”
During the sentencing, Anderson was also ordered to pay the victim full restitution for the stolen checks.
Includes reporting from The Journal News/lohud’s Steve Lieberman.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland aide sentenced, forced patient to sign checks at knifepoint