McMinnville Life Care employee accused of stealing, using patients debit cards

PORTLAND, Ore (KOIN) — An employee at a McMinnville nursing home is accused of stealing two patients’ debit cards and spending hundreds of dollars.

According to court documents, Jeanette Collins, an employee at Life Care Center in McMinnville, on two separate occasions, took debit cards from patients’ rooms and used them at a local Walmart.

On June 28, a probable cause statement said that McMinnville police were first contacted after a patient at Life Care noticed that someone had used her debit card multiple times, totaling $382.66.

Police visited the Walmart and, working with asset protection, were able to retrieve multiple videos of the suspect using the card.

After showing a photo of the suspect to the victim, they said that she worked at Life Center.

The following week, another patient at Life Care reported fraudulent purchases using their debit card, once again at Walmart.

After the suspect was identified, on July 15, police said they contacted Collins, who admitted to taking the debit cards and using them multiple times.

When asked why she did, court documents said that she said she did it “because she was broke.”

Collins is facing numerous charges, including two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, two counts of first-degree burglary, two counts of identity theft, two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card and two counts of second-degree theft.