Woman accused of defrauding elderly man

A woman hired as a caregiver for an 80-year-old Huntington Beach man faces charges of forgery, grand theft, elder abuse and making false financial statements after allegedly selling the man’s home and stealing thousands from his retirement funds, according to police.

For almost two years, Della Eames, 54, of Silverado Canyon allegedly withdrew pension and Social Security funds from Salvatore Valenti’s bank account while he was in her private care, authorities said.

Valenti, a retired New York City transit worker, came under the care of Eames as his health steadily declined following his wife’s death in 2004.

According to police, the man’s son, his only relative living on the West Coast, hired Eames to care for Valenti in his Westminster mobile home after he suffered a stroke and lost his eyesight.

The first thing Eames did was take Valenti’s wallet, making a man who was trying to feel independent reliant on someone else, Huntington Beach Det. Aaron Smith said.

In May, Valenti’s health worsened so that he required specialized nursing. So he was placed in the Sea Cliff Heath Care Center on North Florida Street in Huntington, which was to be paid for with Valenti’s pension and Social Security checks, Smith said.

In June, Sea Cliff employees saw a woman speaking with Valenti, but she left before they could meet her, Smith said. Police believe that woman was Eames having Valenti sign over power of attorney to her, Smith said. After that, she sold his Westminster home for $20,000.

“She gained his trust, became like his only friend,” Smith said. “She recognized how isolated he was.”

Police were notified by Sea Cliff of Valenti’s bank account discrepancies. After a long search for Eames, they arrested her Friday after convincing her to go to the Huntington police station for an interview, Smith said.

She is being held on $100,000 bail at the Orange County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 3 in the West Court Justice Center in Westminster.

Huntington detectives found Eames’ house two weeks ago, just a day before it was scheduled to be demolished. Since then, investigators have combed through Eames’ financial records but have not found the money from the house sale. “That money is gone,” Smith said.

For this reason, a motion was filed against Eames so she has to prove where the money is coming from before she can be released on bail.

“We see a lot of fraud victims,” Smith said. “It touched us all how cold she was and that she left him all alone in the [health care] center,” Smith said. Valenti had two boxes of tissues clenched in his arms when police recently went to interview him at the health center — the tissues were almost all he had left, Smith said.

Police were so moved by the man’s situation that they decided to give him a special holiday gift. At 1:30 p.m. on Thursday police are having a holiday lunch with Valenti at the Sea Cliff center.