Winnipeg seniors' theft complaints ignored until camera installed, worker charged

A worker at an assisted-living facility in Winnipeg's Charleswood area has been arrested and faces charges after seniors complained to police about valuables going missing from their rooms at Assiniboine Links.

Members of one family took matters into their own hands and installed a security camera inside a suite after $600 allegedly went missing from a sock drawer.

Beverly Eriksrud, 85, said she first noticed the missing money in November 2014. She called her daughter-in-law, Debbie Fakes, for help.

"I was shocked and I phoned Debbie fast and I was very upset," Eriksrud recalled.

Fakes contacted a family member who happens to be a police officer. He told her it would be hard to find proof and advised her to install a security camera.

In December, Fakes contacted the facility manager to notify him a camera was going into the room.

"Everything seemed to be doing fine, I never had a reason to look at it," said Fakes.

But that changed in March 2015, after Eriksrud said she started noticing her Tylenol 3s seemed to be disappearing faster than she'd been taking them.

"I had been saying to Deb, 'My Tylenols are going down.' I have them scheduled two a night and there wasn't enough for the time I was supposed to have them," said Eriksrud.

One piece of security camera video shows an employee of the facility inside Eriksrud's room. It appears the employee takes something from the kitchen table, puts it in a tissue, then places it in her pockets. It's not clear what the employee was doing in the room at the time or what was in her pockets.

'I was shocked'

"I was shocked. I was shocked," said Eriksrud.

But when she confronted the manager about it, Eriksrud said the employee turned the tables on her.

"She turned right down the hall and told them that I had asked her to get them for me and I never asked anybody to ever get my pills. Nobody touches my pills." said Eriksrud.

Facility manager Glen Bernardin told CBC News he believed the allegations against the employee were unfounded and called Fakes a "troublemaker."

In a letter to Fakes, Bernardin wrote, "It has been decided by management and our board of directors that no action against this staff member is to be taken given the absence of a conclusion of guilt."

Assiniboine Links is owned by the Oddfellows. Al Nixon, president and board chair, also declined an interview request but said there was no reason to discipline the woman or look into the matter further.

The family said the lack of action was frustrating.

"Oh, it makes me feel rotten…. I love this place and yet I can't stay here. I can't stay here," said Eriksrud.

Fakes then took the security video to Winnipeg police and officers launched an investigation.

Rex Davidson, 86, moved into Assiniboine Links last April. His wife of 59 years died and his daughter didn't want him to be alone.

"It's a nice place, it's OK. I'm comfortable, the food is really good. I made some really good friends," he said.

But in July, Davidson said he noticed Canadian coins he had been collecting for his grandson vanished from a box in his closet.

"It shook me a little bit. It did shake me," said Davidson. He also complained to management but was also left frustrated.

"All the people that went down to complain — everything — he said [there's] no proof and that ended the whole story," he said.

"They did nothing, absolutely nothing. They just put it under the rug."

Davidson later went to police.

Bernardin told CBC News that "seniors misplace things and forget," so there was no way to prove anything was stolen.

Trying to move to other facilities

Since complaining to management, Eriksrud said things have been difficult. She said since she made the allegations, staff won't enter her room for fears they will also be under suspicion.

"It's as if they think it's me, it's my fault, I did something wrong. And here I didn't do nothing wrong," said Eriksrud.

Fakes has been cleaning her mother-in-law's room and has put her on a list for another facility, but she said the wait is long.

"This is these people's homes and these people are here because they can't live on their own and they need a little bit safer place to live. That's why they're here," said Fakes.

Davidson is also on a waiting list to get into another assisted-living facility. For now, he said he has to hide his valuables in his own room.

"I would get out of this place right away if I could," said Davidson. He feels like he has to hide his watches and money from now on, and that it's not a place to live.

Police have arrested a worker. She has been released on a promise to appear in court at a later date. Bernardin told CBC News that after learning of her arrest, the worker was terminated.