CNA charged with theft of nursing home resident’s debit card

A certified nursing assistant faces felony charges for allegedly stealing from a nursing home resident in Arkadelphia.

Lencola Robertson, of Gurdon, is charged with fraudulent use of a credit card, a misdemeanor, and felony theft by receiving. According to a probable cause affidavit, Robertson, 42, became the target of an Arkadelphia Police Department investigation in early March, after a resident of Nightingale Nursing Home reported purchases were made to his bank account without his authorization.

Two successful transactions were made at an Arkadelphia convenience store, and there was one unsuccessful $400 attempt at Carmart.

The resident went on to say that the only person he’d allowed to use the card was a CNA, whom he had loaned the card for a single purchase at a vending machine two days prior.

The nursing home administrator later provided investigators with bank transactions from the resident’s account showing an unsuccessful ATM withdrawal and a successful purchase at a grocery store, according to the affidavit.

Video footage from three of those locations helped police identify Robertson as the suspect, the affidavit notes.

Robertson was convicted in 2018 for theft of public benefits, a Class B felony for which she was sentenced to 60 months of supervised probation following a negotiated guilty plea.

Court records from that case indicate that, between 2015 and 2016, Robertson obtained more than $4,000 in excess SNAP benefits by claiming child support as her only income when she was in fact employed at four area nursing homes, including Nightingale, during that time.