'A Violation Of Human Decency': Loganville Nurse Sentenced For Stealing Bank Cards: ICYMI

LOGANVILLE, GA -- A traveling nurse pleaded guilty recently to withdrawing more than $9,000 from two elderly patients after stealing their bank cards at a rehab center in Austell, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced. April Dionne Echols, 39, of Loganville, admitted to the crimes in court, Reynolds said.

Echols was sentenced to 10 years, with three years behind bars and the rest on probation, the DA said Wednesday. (SIGN UP: For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. Or if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Echols' travels with her job as a licensed practical nurse at Anderson Mill Rehabilitation Center in Austell allowed her to charge thousands of dollars from purchases made after she took the bank cards, the DA said.

In December, security cameras caught her using the cards at various stores, the DA said.

Cobb investigators discovered that Echols actually tried to use the cards to rack up $31,000 more in charges, but those transactions were declined, the DA said. She also called one of the patient's banks 37 times from her cell phone, posing as the account holder, Cobb prosecutors said.

“These victims were in that facility not because they wanted to be there, but because they could not care for themselves. One victim was debilitated by ALS and could barely speak,” said Senior Assistant District Attorney Jason Marbutt, who prosecuted this case, said in a news release. “And while they were in that position of vulnerability, someone in a position of trust – a nurse – stole from them.”

Echols pleaded guilty to two counts of exploitation of an elder or disabled person and eight counts of financial transaction card fraud.
The crimes go "far beyond a violation of simple trust," Cobb Superior Court Judge C. LaTain Kell told Echols during the proceedings. “It’s a violation of human decency."

In addition to a prison sentence, Echols must pay restitution to the banks that reimbursed their customers after they were defrauded. She will also be prohibited from "working in the care of others," the Reynolds said.

Echols was represented by attorney Sandra Dawson of Lithia Springs.

Image via Cobb County Sheriff's Office