Wendy Cordaro, 54, made friends with the elderly woman in Margate, Fla. and convinced her to let her become her caretaker for around a year despite having never worked as a caretaker before, according to a complaint affidavit report from the Margate Police Department (MPD) obtained by Newsweek.

Cordaro, “convinced the victim that she needed money to buy groceries, pay bills, and purchase other household items for herself. She knowingly made false misrepresentations and gave erroneous statements to persuade the victim,” the report said.

Cordaro was arrested Wednesday by MPD officer Daniel Shaw at her home in Margate. Cordaro faces charges of grand theft of an elderly person, exploitation of an elderly person and organized scheme to defraud, police said.

Investigators said Cordaro purposefully gained the elderly woman’s trust and confidence to establish a relationship and defraud her of her finances. The money was taken from the victim around January 2020 to October 2020, according to police.

“All of the money was spent in debit card purchases, ATM withdrawals, Zelle transfers and from the issuance of bank checks,” said the affidavit report, which described Cordaro’s actions as a “systematic” plot to “defraud an elderly person.”

Police said Cordaro allegedly convinced the woman to write $23,745 worth of checks to her and also obtained and used her debit card, which the victim repeatedly asked to be returned to her.

Cordaro “continued to conduct a series of unauthorized ATM withdrawals and debit card transactions,” that amounted to more than $14,000 being charged, the report said.

In October, 2020, police said the victim’s brother notified the MPD when “he learned that his sister’s bank account had been depleted.”

The police report said Cordaro should have known that her elderly neighbor “lacked the mental capacity” to understand the high amount of money that was being taken from her bank account.

During the investigation, MPD detective Michael Shapira had obtained ATM surveillance footage that showed Cordaro conducting numerous withdrawals from checks she received from her elderly neighbor’s account.

In the report, Shapira said that Cordaro had the intent to deprive her neighbor of her own use, benefit and possession of her personal finances. He added that Cordaro “knowingly exploited” her neighbor.

“Please protect your elders,” a Twitter user wrote in reaction to WPLG’s story that first reported Cordaro’s scheme and shared on the platform on Thursday.