A 73-year-old Vancouver woman, who was already battling cancer and going through chemotherapy, says she couldn't believe it when she realized someone had been forging her signature on cheques.
"I think it was the biggest shock of my life," says the alleged fraud victim, whose name is Dorothy.
Dorothy's care aide Maureen Jordan is charged with theft, fraud, and three counts of forging documents, according to statements filed in a Vancouver provincial court.
At the time, she was employed by Living Well 50+ Home Care Services.
The owners of the company say they have one regret, not doing a criminal record check on Jordan who came to them highly recommended, but it's a mistake they won't repeat.
"It doesn't matter if they're an angel with wings they're still getting their criminal record check since this incident,'' said Cathy Wicks a director and co-owner of Living Well 50 +
It's a moot point in this case as Jordan does not have a criminal record. But those who employ care workers say there has to be some type of registry for workers.
How do you let other agencies know, how do you let other people know hey watch out? And there's no system in place right now to do that? Well no because of the privacy issue, liability,'' said Christine Smith, who is also a co-owner and director of Living Well 50+
It's not the first time that this concern has been raised.
In Summerland, B.C., a care aid is suspected of racking up charges on a credit card belonging to a senior. When CTV broke this story, B.C. Health Minister George Abbott called for a system to track bad apples.
"Perhaps some form of registry where these kinds of disciplinary issues are recorded and people have an opportunity to disseminate that information to other providers," Abbott said.
That was in March.
CTV asked the Minister again on Wednesday why there's still no system in place.
"There is work ongoing in respect of residential care aides and uh, and managing those issues among residential care aides and I hope that within a period of weeks or months we are able to put something firm in place with respect to that," he said.
Meanwhile, Dorothy will focus on battling cancer and the woman accused of defrauding her will prepare for a June court date.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dag Sharman