A Burnaby caregiver who stole $260,000 over 16 months from an elderly Coquitlam couple she was caring for has been sentenced to a year in jail and 18 months’ probation.
Antonette Dizon was hired in September 2014 by Henry and Helen Abfalter, both 86, to provide homecare assistance, according to court documents.
The couple were living in a retirement home and needed extra help because of their deteriorating health.
“Ms. Dizon spent a great deal of time with them and developed a close relationship with both of them,” said B.C. Provincial Court Judge Robin McQuillan in a Dec. 13 court ruling.
One of the things Dizon helped the couple with was banking, and at some point she learned the PIN for Henry Abfalter’s debit card, according to the ruling.
Shortly after he was hospitalized in December 2014, she stole that debit card from his wallet in his bedroom.
From January 2015 to April 2016 – until well after Henry Abfalter’s death in September 2015 – she then proceeded to drain the couples’ accounts of $260,000.
The thefts were finally discovered on April 28, 2016, by the Abfalters’ daughter, who had power of attorney over her mother’s accounts.
Alarmed by a large drop in her mother’s bank balance since January 2015, she made inquiries and found out about the regular withdrawals from ATMs throughout the Lower Mainland.
She reported them to police.
'The kindest person'
From bank surveillance videos, investigators then determined it was Dizon using the debit card.
Dizon confessed to the crime after she was arrested and pleaded guilty on May 15, 2018 to one count of theft over $5,000.
She said she had taken the money to provide her children with a good life, paying for such things as a new car and tuition for her daughter, a trip to Disneyland, bedroom furniture and a cleaning business. She had almost no money left at the time of her arrest.
Helen Abfalter, who was by then 91 years old, died nine months after Dizon’s crime was discovered.
“When she first became aware that Ms. Dizon was responsible for the loss of her money, she initially refused to believe it, referring to Ms. Dizon as ‘the kindest person,’” stated the court ruling. “She was devastated when she had to acknowledge Ms. Dizon as the perpetrator.”
Crown prosecutors called for Dizon to be sentenced to 16 to 18 months in jail and 12 to 18 months’ probation. The Crown also asked for a restitution order. Dizon’s lawyer, meanwhile, argued for a six-month jail term and a period of probation.
Restitution
In delivering her sentence, McQuillan noted mitigating factors in the case, including Dizon’s guilty plea, her remorse, her lack of a criminal record, her history as a hard worker and the “public shame and humiliation” she has already faced from media attention to her case.
But McQuillan also highlighted the length of time the thefts took place, the large amount of money taken, the age and vulnerability of the Abfalters and the fact Dizon had apparently breached their trust and close friendship because of greed instead of need.
“She had unlimited opportunities to reflect on what she was doing and to correct or at least stop her conduct,” McQuillan said. “She did not do so.”
Along with the jail sentence and probation, McQuillan ordered Dizon to pay Helen Abfalter’s estate back $105,000 – the sum it wasn’t able to recoup through seizing assets and settling civil suits with the bank and the homecare agency Dizon had worked for.
