Two women arrested for exploiting the elderly

Kathy Elliot's neighbor sums it up just about right.

"To me it is kind of crazy what she was doing," said Rolando Rodriguez.

Detectives with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said 66-year-old Kathy Elliot of Ruskin, stole large amounts of jewelry from three elderly people she was supposed to be caring for.

She worked as a home healthcare companion with Hanson Services In-Home Care.

"As far as her doing that she deserves everything she gets," Rodriguez added.

She is currently behind bars.

Facing charges three counts of Exploitation of an Elderly Person, two counts of Grand Theft, two counts of Dealing in Stolen Property and two counts of False Information on a Pawn-broker Form.

43-year-old Anita Puskas joins her.

While investigating Elliot, Deputies discovered Puskas was also on the take. Deputies said she stole large amounts of cash from an elderly person she was taking care of.

She faces 12 counts of Fraudulent use of a Credit Card and a charge of Exploitation of an Elderly Person. She also worked for Hanson Services out of Sun City Center.

"We are not sure if they were working together. There were different victims," explained Cristal Bermudez-Nunez with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies are certain there are even more victims.

"There may be small things that went unnoticed or may be people thought they misplaced things. Maybe it will all make sense if they think that that person was doing in-home health care services from them while those things were missing," Bermudez-Nunez told FOX 13.

Hanson Services has had a clean record, even winning awards and accolades from the community.

Administrators are in shock, they even offered a public apology.

"I would I just like to say how sorry we are with the loss that these families endured. We hope that they will have trust with us again," Hanson administrator Georgana Collins added.

She said both women underwent tedious background checks.

"They had passion for their clients. I feel like other personal problems got in the way of their own personal duties," she described.  

Deputies are waiting to see if other victims will come forward.

"We had faith and trust in them and we felt betrayed also," Collins added.

Detectives continue to investigate and ask other victims to contact Hillsborough Deputies at 813-247-8200.