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PROVO — A Lehi man who was supposed to provide care for an elderly Provo couple is facing criminal charges accusing him of using their credit cards without authorization.
Austin Russell Estrada, 23, was charged Thursday in 4th District Court with two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony.
In August, the family of an elderly Provo couple hired the company Visiting Angels to provide "full time, around-the-clock assistance" to the couple.
After the husband died in October, his daughter discovered "a number of fraudulent charges on her parents' American Express credit cards," according to charging documents. She then discovered that her mother's credit card was missing, her father's credit card had somehow ended up in her mother's purse, and her mother's wedding ring was also missing.
The husband's credit card was used fraudulently from Sept. 18 through Oct. 5 with charges totaling over $1,800. The wife's credit card was used fraudulently from Sept. 14 through Nov. 4 and totaled more than $6,000 in expenses, according to charging documents.
Seven employees of the business had access to the home during that time, according to investigators, including Estrada.
Detectives collected video surveillance from stores in northern Utah County and the south end of Salt Lake County where transactions were made and identified Estrada as making purchases, the charges allege. He was arrested in November.
