DORAL, Fla. — A 59-year-old woman with a criminal record in Broward and Miami-Dade counties was working as a caretaker when she exploited an 86-year-old woman, according to the Doral Police Department.
Doral Chief Edwin Lopez said surveillance videos show Monica Orta shopping with the victim’s credit cards at stores such as Nordstrom and Macy’s in Miami-Dade County.
On Tuesday, police officers arrested Orta, who was born in Lima, Peru, and lived in Hialeah. Her arrest record for thefts goes back as far as 2004.
A Doral police officer met with Orta’s most recent alleged victim on Aug. 22 at the Goldvue Estates gated community after Macys’ fraud department called the victim to report three suspicious transactions that had occurred on Aug. 21.
She also received a call from Nordstrom’s fraud department about someone trying to use her credit card.
Police said that on Aug. 22, the victim asked Orta if she had been to the mall the day prior, but Orta claimed she had not.
According to the report, the victim suspected Orta had used her credit cards but did not want to accuse her, so she proceeded to go to her bathroom to take a shower, at which time Orta left the home without telling her.
When the victim got out of the shower, she discovered her $2,500 ring, which she wear everyday, was missing, police said.
According to police, Orta had been caring for the victim since July after the victim hired her through an agency.
The agency told the victim Orta was not going back because “she did not like the way she was being treated,” according to the arrest report.
Police officers stopped Orta Tuesday, who was in a Chevrolet Equinox near her home in Hialeah, and found she had the victim’s credit cards, receipts, and a gift card linking her to the crimes, according to the arrest report.
Police said during questioning, Orta said she had quit and accused the victim of “rudeness and disrespect” and lying. The police department did not name the agency that hired Orta despite her long record.
In Miami-Dade, Orta’s arrest record includes arrests from the then-Miami-Dade Police Department in 2016, 2012, 2009, and 2004; Aventura PD in 2020, 2012, and 2009; Hialeah PD in 2021, 2018, and 2008; and Doral PD in 2006.
In Broward, Pembroke Pines police officers arrested her for theft in 2023 and 2014. Plantation police officers arrested her in 2020, and Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested her in 2012.
Court records show Miami-Dade prosecutors filed a new case against Orta on Wednesday for seven felonies and two misdemeanors.
In the case involving the Doral victim, Orta faces charges of exploiting an elderly disabled victim, organized scheme to defraud, two counts of identification fraud, three counts of credit card fraud of more than $100, and two counts of credit card fraud of less than $100.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Michelle Delancy was set to preside over the case.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.
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