Thief Forces 83-Year-Old Woman to Smoke Crack in Order to Scam Her

It is common for criminals to take advantage of and steal from senior citizens because it tends to be an easy escape, but a woman in New Port Richey, Florida, took stealing from the elderly to a new a level.

A woman in New Port Richey forced her 83-year-old female house mate to smoke crack so she would be able to steal her personal information in order to get a credit card under the older woman's name and run up over $3,000 in charges from several different stores and facilities.

The thief, Theresa M. Stanley-Morgan, age 41, was arrested by the Pasco County Sheriff's Department. The department investigators accused Stanley-Morgan of convincing the older woman to smoke crack cocaine several times in order to financially exploit her and her get information to make the fraudulent charges on credit cards under the older woman's name.

Stanley-Morgan was arrested by the Pasco County Police on April 28, 2007. She admitted to the department investigators that she used the 83-year-old woman's, who has been identified as Shirley Hathaway, name, Social Security number, and birth date, to get a credit card account. Police found that she applied for more than one credit card account.

Hathaway and an unknown witness spoke to Pasco County investigators about the ordeal. Both Hathaway and the unidentified witness said that Stanley-Morgan forced Hathaway to take hits off a lit crack pipe telling her it was the "hooty", according to the police report. While Hathaway was severely under the influence of the crack cocaine from the pipe, Stanley-Morgan would dig through her purse, through her room, and through many other of her belongings to find her personal information. Hathaway also stated that Stanley-Morgan would often do crack cocaine on her own.

Currently, Stanley-Morgan was in jail Monday after a judge put her on a $23,000 bail. She was charged with "criminal use of personal identification, use of another person's ID without permission and retail theft." Whether she will be brought to drug charges, such as possession, is unknown yet. The main focus is still on the identity theft. Right now, more charges (possibly drug related) are still pending and her bail will not be reduced by the court. It is also unknown if Hathaway would be put in a nursing home or be taken care of by close friends or family.

The District Attorney is still trying to find Stanley-Morgan a suitable lawyer for her case.

Sources:
"Woman allegedly forces her 83-year-old housemate to smoke crack cocaine in ID scam" http://www.canada.com/topics/news/oddities/story.html?id=50660ed5-1305-4d94-943a-b6fadf4358f6&k=61561
"Woman, 83, Given Crack Cocaine, Then Robbed" http://www.wpbf.com/news/13268294/detail.html
"Woman, 83, Allegedly Made to Smoke Crack" http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/07/ap3694877.html