Caretaker charged with embezzling from 85-year-old woman

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — An 85-year-old woman from Bloomfield Township allegedly was swindled out of $160,000 by her caretaker, according to Bloomfield Township police.

Marivelis Serrano, 48, was arraigned April 9 in 48th District Court on an 18-count felony warrant — including one count of embezzlement of $100,000 or more, 12 counts of uttering and publishing, and five counts of identity theft.

Serrano, of Pontiac — who was employed by the senior as her caretaker at the time — handled house cleaning, transportation and assistance with other day-to-day tasks for the township resident.

Bloomfield Township police were alerted to what they said was financial exploitation of the resident Jan. 16 and launched an investigation.

The investigation revealed that Serrano allegedly stole $160,000 from the woman and transferred it to Serrano’s own accounts. She also reportedly spent thousands of dollars on online gambling platforms and illegally used the woman’s debit card to buy thousands of dollars worth of goods, including $6,200 in Amazon purchases and $3,600 in Instacart purchases, according to reports.

Officials said Serrano surrendered herself to the 48th District Court and was given a $50,000 cash surety or 10% bond at her April 9 arraignment.

Serrano’s attorney, Brandon Jonathan Kizy, could not be reached for comment at press time.

A preliminary examination is scheduled for April 23.