Police: Couple stole identities of Alzheimer’s patients

A Buford couple is facing criminal charges in connection with a scheme to defraud six elderly Alzheimer’s patients at a Buford nursing home.

Iniabel Ferrer, 36, and Jose Luis Ciuro, 44, both of Buford, are accused of obtaining personal and medical information from the aging victims at Brookside Assisted Living at 4450 Old Hamilton Mill Rd. in Buford, where Ferrer worked.

Ferrer has been arrested, but Ciuro is still at large.

A woman who knew a relative of the couple approached police several weeks ago claiming that Ferrer and Ciuro had asked her to use her computer expertise to help them steal money from the victims’ bank accounts, said Gwinnett police spokeswoman Cpl. Illana Spellman.

During a subsequent traffic stop on Aug. 8, officers found documents containing the information of six nursing home residents in the couple’s possession.

Investigators spoke with management at the nursing home and confirmed that Ferrer did not have permission or reason to access patient information, Spellman said. Police said Ferrer was contracted in January to work at the nursing home as a “sitter,” to keep elderly patients company.

Ferrer was arrested at the nursing home on Aug. 13. She is being held on $68,400 bond at the Gwinnett jail on six counts of felony exploitation of a disabled adult and six counts of felony financial identity fraud.