Home health aide indicted in thefts from elderly clients

April 29-- Apr. 29--PEABODY -- A Lynn woman has been indicted on charges that she stole thousands of dollars from elderly residents of Peabody and Andover while working as a home health aide.

Vanessa Delarosa, 28, allegedly used the money -- nearly $43,000 from an 85-year-old Peabody woman, and an additional amount from an 82-year-old Andover man -- to pay bills and write checks to friends and associates.

Delarosa, who was also using the last name Avalo, as well as the stolen identity of a Puerto Rican-born citizen, had been hired by the family of the Peabody woman in 2017 through Freedom Home Health Care, according to a Peabody police report.

Last May, the victim's niece showed up at the Peabody police station with bank records documenting nearly 40 checks totaling nearly $43,000, made out to people and businesses her elderly aunt either didn't know or had never done business with.

Some checks were made out to a YWCA where Delarosa's daughter was in day care. Other checks were made out to Kelly and Ryan to pay overdue excise tax on four cars registered under the name "Iviann Liz Torrez," the identity Delarosa is now charged with stealing, according to police.

Still other payments from the elderly woman's account went to pay auto insurance premiums on those vehicles. And other checks went to pay utility bills.

Multiple checks were made out to friends, including a man who had been a co-defendant in a drug and home invasion case in Lynn with another man, who had been in a relationship with Delarosa.

The thefts occurred between June 2017 and April 2018, when they were discovered and Delarosa stopped working for the woman.

Then, during the month of July, before Delarosa was charged in the Peabody case, she allegedly went to work for a Haverhill-based agency that placed her with the 82-year-old Andover man.

She has been indicted on a charge of larceny stemming from her work there.

Delarosa was arrested and arraigned in October, where a judge set bail for her at $10,000.

That bail was later posted and she was released from custody.

A new arraignment date has not yet been scheduled. The indictment moves the cases from Peabody and Lawrence District Courts to Salem Superior Court, where she will face charges of identity fraud, seven counts of felony larceny of more than $1,200 and two counts of misdemeanor larceny (under $1,200).

Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis.

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