SOUTH SALT LAKE — A manager at a South Salt Lake assisted living facility is accused of stealing money from a deaf resident.
Ann Mareta Polataivao, 31, of West Jordan, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with communications fraud, unlawful use of a credit card, financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, identity fraud, and violating the fiduciary act, all second-degree felonies; and unlawful acquisition of a bank card, a third-degree felony.
Polataivao was the facility manager at Rosewood Assisted Care, 464 E. 3700 South. In September, a case worker for a 74-year-old resident at the facility who is deaf contacted police regarding possible fraud, according to charging documents.
"The most recent fraudulent purchases were $800 plane tickets which (the resident) did not purchase," the charges state while adding that the resident had to replace his credit card three times, "and each time it was due to fraudulent purchases."
The resident's credit cards were also used to make 80 purchases on Amazon, according to the charges, which were linked to Polataivao.
The resident had his bank card on file at Rosewood "to pay for his rent and other activities he would use through the facility," the charges state. But prosecutors contend that is also "how Polataivao gained access to (the) credit card information."
The case worker and resident helped police identify "$26,283 in total transactions that (the resident) did not make," the changes state.
Polataivao was arrested in November and "eventually admitted that she knowingly used the victim's credit cards to purchase multiple airplane tickets on a half dozen occasions and to send $1,250 in money orders to Samoa," the affidavit alleges. "Among the items purchased by (Polataivao) fraudulently, was airplane tickets to Samoa, as well as several money orders to Samoa," a police booking affidavit states.
