A housekeeper was arrested after allegedly taking revenge on her boss who denied her a $500 (£410) bonus.
Heather Nelson was once regarded as the trusted employee of the 83-year-old woman in Florida before the alleged incident on Christmas eve.
The 29-year-old was arrested on Tuesday (7 January) and is facing a number of felony charges including aggravated battery, robbery and grand theft according to authorities and court filings in Brevard County.
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It’s said this incident kicked off when the victim was unable to give the cleaner the requested $500 Christmas bonus.
And when it was then denied, Nelson allegedly decided to seek her cash her own way.
“She actually took the check by force, [she] took some Christmas cards that had money in them, took some debit and credit cards, left the residence, forged some signatures and attempted to take quite a bit of money from this woman,” sheriff’s office’s public information officer Tod Goodyear told Orlando-based Fox affiliate WOFL.
But it didn’t quite stop there according to the authorities.
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It’s said Nelson went on to use the stolen chequebook to pay her outstanding rent as she used a cheque for $1,400 (£1,147).
“Based on what she was using the monies for, she was in financial trouble,” Goodyear added.
“Maybe she just saw this as the only way possibly out of it, but to take advantage of our elderly seniors is not what you do.”
Nelson’s alleged lashing out left her elderly boss with a swollen wrist and she was of course pretty shaken.
It took investigators about two weeks to piece together her alleged financial malfeasance before her arrest this week.
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And the sheriff’s office released a pretty odd press release with Grinch references afterwards.
It included: “When the victim announced that she didn’t have enough money to give her a bonus, Nelson responded by physically wrenching the victim’s checkbook from her hand, stealing a check from the checkbook, and then, I guess in an effort to ruin other people’s Christmas as well, stole Christmas cards that were set to be mailed out also containing checks!! Damn Grinch, you went too far!! I guess committing battery and almost breaking the wrist of the elderly victim wasn’t bad enough so you decide to steal all her money and take Christmas gifts that were meant for others away as well!! What’s next … kick her dog?”
Records show Nelson was released on 9 January with charges showing as aggravated battery, robbery, forgery, fraud, passing a counterfeit instrument, and grand theft alongside fraud charges. She will face a hearing in the coming weeks.
Jess Battison