N. Bellmore woman charged with stealing from elderly patients

A North Bellmore woman was arrested on Wednesday after she allegedly attempted to steal more than $86,000 from her elderly patients while working as a home health aide in multiple locations across the county, police said.

Nassau County detectives said Sherriza Alfano, 50, began working at a home on Poppy Avenue in Franklin Square on May 2. Police said it was there that she removed four checks belonging to two victims in her care, ages 83 and 84, and deposited them into her own bank account. The checks were made payable to cash in the amounts of $15,000, $17,000, $4,000 and $900.

Police said one of Alfano’s Franklin Square patients suffered a loss of $900, while the other victim sustained no loss owing to insufficient funds.

Alfano, who lives on Holiday Court in North Bellmore, stopped working in Franklin Square on Aug. 25. However, police said Alfano continued to try to steal from elderly patients when she began working in another part of the county.

Police said Alfano, who was employed as a health aide for an 84-year-old woman at a home on Villa Drive in Massapequa, called the victim on Aug. 6 and identified herself as someone from the Internal Revenue Service. Law enforcement officials said after Alfano told the woman she had won money and convinced her that she was an agent, she asked for her banking information. Alfano then reportedly transferred funds from the victim’s account in excess of $50,000 to pay for her personal credit cards.

Crimes Against Property Squad detectives arrested Alfano on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at her North Bellmore home. Police charged her with grand larceny in the second degree, two counts of grand larceny in the third degree, three counts of possession of a forged instrument in the second degree and identity theft in the first degree.

At press time, Alfano was to be arraigned on Thursday, Aug. 30, at 1st District Court in Hempstead.