Caregiver convicted of stealing jewelry from quadriplegic

A Carol Stream woman was found guilty Tuesday of pawning jewelry she stole from the elderly bedridden woman she worked for, but acquitted of the more serious residential burglary charges.

La Tasha Powell worked for more than a year as a caregiver for a 61-year-old former Bensenville woman who has been polio-stricken since she was 15 and relies on a breathing machine.

DuPage County prosecutors said the 36-year-old Powell systematically robbed the woman of her jewelry over a span of several months and sold it at a Glendale Heights pawn shop.

In all, Bensenville police Sgt. Brian Dooley discovered Powell had pawned 23 rings, 27 bracelets and three chains during six trips to the store.

The store's owner, Ricardo Moraga, testified he bought the jewelry at wholesale rates for $2,300. He went on to say that retail value of the jewelry was closer to $10,000.

The jewelry was sent to a refinery where the gold was melted down. None of the jewelry sold to Moraga was recovered.

Dooley said Powell initially denied she stole the jewelry but later tearfully admitted the thefts after being confronted with receipts from Moraga's store with her name on them. She told investigators she needed the extra money to pay bills.

Prosecutor Mary Cronin said the victim discovered the theft when she asked another caregiver to fetch her jewelry cases so she could look at the items. Cronin said police found two other bracelets and a ring when they searched Powell's home.

Judge Robert Anderson said the evidence of Powell's crimes was "overwhelming," and he convicted her of theft and financial exploitation of an elderly or disabled person. Both are punishable by probation.

But attorneys sparred on whether the crime amounted to residential burglary, which carries a mandatory prison sentence.

Powell's lawyer, Salvatore Miglore, argued that his client was an invited occupant of the home and couldn't be charged with burglary.

Prosecutors countered that her invitation would have been revoked if the victim had known about the thefts.

"At no time did she have permission to go into her house and steal from her," prosecutor Dave Imielski said. "This is repeated victimization under the auspices of taking care of someone. This wasn't a case of her being tempted, like Gollum, with the ring."

Anderson said he didn't believe the thefts amounted to residential burglary. But he warned Powell that just because the crimes she was convicted of were punishable by probation didn't mean that was what he planned to impose at her July 23 sentencing.

Cronin was unsure of Powell's accreditation as a caregiver.

"If she's got a license," she said, "we'll seek to revoke it."