Assisted Living Facility Administrator Accused of Stealing $50G

The administrator of Specialty LifeCare Service, an assisted living facility in Kernville, was charged Tuesday with stealing $50,600 from a 91-year-old resident’s bank account.

Debra Zilch, 42, of the 900 block of Belmont Street, voluntarily appeared for arraignment before District Judge Michael Musulin on charges of theft, receiving stolen property and forgery.

She was released on $25,000 recognizance bond. A preliminary hearing will be held Sept. 30.

Zilch allegedly stole a checkbook from the resident’s room and began writing checks to herself, a Cambria County detective, alleged in an affidavit.

Detective Kevin Price charged that Zilch wrote 20 checks between May 21 and Aug. 6 in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $6,000.

Zilch, who is part-owner of the facility at 429 Napoleon St., said she had taken a voluntary leave from her duties.

“I’ve never done anything like this before. I will repay the money. I am not a mean person,” she said in a telephone interview.

She did not discuss a motive for taking the money. She said that she is hiring a Johnstown attorney to represent her in the case.

Zilch allegedly admitted going into the resident’s room and taking what the man described as an old checkbook from a drawer. The resident told Price and Jennifer Anderson, an investigator from the Area Agency on Aging, that he had given no one, including Zilch, permission to write checks or take money from his account.

The man revealed that she had talked with him a few days before he was interviewed by the investigators and admitted she took his money.

At that time, she signed a note that was notarized by another woman, agreeing to pay him back at the rate of $2,000 a month.

“I have apologized and explained my situation. (The resident) graciously forgave me for my wrongdoing,” Zilch said in the signed note.

The theft came to light after another resident reported to the aging agency in early September that someone had stolen a large amount of money from a resident’s checking account, Price said.

It was learned during the investigation that First National Bank – where the man had his money – had notified the resident that his checking account had been overdrawn.

Price credited the agency investigator and the bank with bringing the alleged theft to the attention of the district attorney’s office.

Tags: Assisted Living, Senior Living, Senior Living News