A Pittsburgh woman who was working as a home health aide and her boyfriend are accused of draining the bank account of an elderly Ross man she had been assigned to help with daily living tasks.
Allegheny County Police filed charges in July against Taylor Darwin, 26, of Downtown Pittsburgh, and Stephen Donaldson, 41, of Pittsburgh’s Northview Heights neighborhood.
Police said they received a report of suspected elder abuse in March.
In criminal complaints against Darwin and Donaldson, county police allege they had used the man’s bank debit card to make $5,373 in unauthorized purchases across multiple retailers and service providers, including Shein, Lyft, Disney Plus, Temu, Amazon Prime, Walmart.com, Uber, DoorDash, Google, Target.com and Fubo TV.
Police say the purchases in question were shown on the man’s monthly bank statements from Sept. 9, 2025 to March 6.
The 70-year-old man, who lives on Social Security and uses a wheelchair, discovered someone had taken money from his bank account, which had a negative balance, when he was unable to pay rent.
According to the complaint against Darwin, she was a home health aide and caregiver with Reliable Home Health Limited in 2025. She was assigned as the Ross man’s caregiver 32 times from April 28 to June 18, 2025.
Ali Mohamed, owner of Reliable Home Health, said that Darwin didn’t work with Reliable during the time of the purchases in question. In addition, Darwin no longer works at Reliable, Mohamed said.
He added that they had checked Darwin’s references and background, and followed up with clients about how she was doing.
If the charges are substantiated, Mohamed said, he’d be willing to reimburse the man.
“No one that works for any vulnerable individual should have even the thought of trying to take advantage of them,” he said. “We take care of vulnerable people. This situation is very unfortunate.”
When police showed the man photos of Darwin and Donaldson, he did not recognize Darwin but thought he recognized Donaldson, the complaint states. The man told police he had not allowed either of them to use his money.
The man told police he believed an aide from Reliable Home Health, who had access to his bank or debit card information to help him shop, had used his bank account for purchases he had not authorized. Although he had been getting help from Reliable Home Health for several months, he did not know the aide’s name, the complaint states.
A social worker who reviewed the man’s bank account history told police he would not know how to use any of the services or make purchases from online retailers and noted he can’t use rideshares because of being in a wheelchair, the complaints state.
County police served search warrants on the online retailers and service providers that had been paid from the man’s account without his knowledge, according to the complaints.
The results of those warrants included finding that Shein had shipped multiple orders to Donaldson and Darwin’s addresses. Temu shipped items to Donaldson’s address.
Records from Target showed an account in Darwin’s name using the man’s debit card, with purchases that were shipped to her and picked up in-store by Donaldson.
From Lyft, there were multiple rider accounts using the man’s bank card, two of which had Darwin’s name and the address where the Shein orders were shipped, according to the complaints. Another rider account had Donaldson’s photo.
Records from Uber showed the man’s debit card was used for an account with Darwin’s name and an account with Donaldson’s email address.
The man’s debit card was used to buy a Fubo TV subscription, six days after a card issued to Donaldson was rejected twice.
Darwin and Donaldson did not have attorneys listed in court records.
County police charged Darwin on July 8 with felony counts of theft, financial exploitation of an older adult or care dependent person, receiving stolen property, access device fraud, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal attempt. She was arraigned on July 9 and released on a nonmonetary bond. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before District Judge Richard G. Opiela on July 29.
Donaldson was charged July 9 with theft, receiving stolen property, access device fraud, criminal use of a communication facility and conspiracy.
He already is being held in the Allegheny County Jail, awaiting trial on charges of simple assault and criminal mischief filed by Pittsburgh police in May, according to court records.