ROSWELL, Ga. — A metro Atlanta nurse was arrested after being accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from her elderly patients.
According to the Roswell Police Department, Wellstar employee Stephanie Phillips-Siwiec was arrested on Oct. 4 and is facing two counts of felony theft by taking, misdemeanor theft by taking, three counts of elder abuse, three counts of robbery and one count of aggravated battery. Police said the charges reflect the three victims identified so far in the investigation.
Warrants obtained by 11Alive provide more details on the alleged crimes. In one case, on Aug. 28, a woman with dementia was taken to North Fulton Hospital by ambulance after falling. By the time she got back to her retirement home, she noticed three of her rings were missing. There was a yellow gold wedding band, a yellow gold ring in the shape of a tennis racket and a white gold wedding set with two white gold bands, one with a diamond. These rings are valued at $5,800. The woman had on the rings when she was at the hospital getting an X-ray, so her daughter believed that the rings must have been taken by hospital staff or on the ambulance, according to warrants.
Two days later, police learned that when the daughter took her mother to another doctor, it was discovered that the woman's finger was dislocated. The doctor said that the injury would not have been from the woman's fall, and so the daughter believed the injury happened when the rings were forcibly stolen off her fingers, according to warrants.
Another case around the same time involved a stroke patient at North Fulton Hospital who also had her rings stolen. According to warrants, when the woman's daughter came to the hospital, she saw that her mother's rings had been stolen and had been removed by pulling at her fingers. The woman wore rings on both hands. On her left hand was a wedding ring with a marquee diamond and a band with diamonds around the center ring in a gold setting. On the right hand was an amethyst ring in a gold setting with a raised stone. This all totaled $10,000, the warrants said.
Security footage from that case showed that the woman was wearing the rings when she arrived at the hospital but that they had been removed by the time she had been discharged, the warrants read.
A third incident was reported when another woman said that her mother had her bracelet stolen during a recent visit to that same hospital. The woman had broken her hip and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. When the daughter came to see her mother, she noticed that her mother's bracelet was missing, and she believed it must have been stolen. The bracelet was gold and cost about $1,000, according to warrants.
During the investigation, officers spoke with a witness who told police that she had seen gold jewelry in Phillips-Siwiec's hand. When she asked the nurse if she needed help, Phillips-Siwiec said she would take care of it and that the woman could continue working on what she was doing, warrants said. The witness also recalled that around a month before, Phillips-Siwiec was asking nurses at work where she could sell gold because she had $7,000 worth in her purse.
The officer wrote in the warrant that North Fulton Hospital investigators confirmed that Phillips-Siwiec was involved in the patient's care as well as two others who also had jewelry stolen in the same fashion.
"All patients were elderly females brought to the ER by ambulance," the officer wrote in the arrest affidavit. "Phillips-Siwiec has been selling similar jewelry on Facebook Marketplace for approximately the last 10 weeks which encompasses the time frame of all three cases."
Wellstar said that Phillips-Siwiec had been put on administrative leave pending further investigation. A spokesperson also stated that they are cooperating with authorities and will take further action as appropriate.
"These allegations, if true, go against everything we stand for as caregivers. Every person should feel safe and comfortable when they receive care," a Wellstar spokesperson said. "We conduct thorough employee background checks and encourage our team members and patients to report their concerns, which they can do anonymously, to help ensure the highest levels of care and safety."