St. Tammany News

"I don't hate them for it," Herbert Pittman said. "I just wish they had had better sense."

Having lost his legs due to disease just last year, Pittman had no choice but to trust the two women who came every day to take care of him. They and his grandson were his only real connection with the outside world.

Brian Pittman stands with his grandfather, Herbert Pittman. Authorities say two caretakers Pittman had hired stole nearly $70,000 from the elderly man. His grandson uncovered the theft when he noticed money missing out of his grandfather's bank account. (Staff Photo by Suzanne Le Breton)

And, Wednesday afternoon, nearly a week after the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office arrested Shawanda Ann Cooper, 32, and Zena Shawntell Charles, 34, for stealing approximately $70,000 from the 74-year-old man, Pittman still had nice things to say about the women who were hired to take care of him in his Slidell home.

"They took good care of me," he said. "I just didn't know how much I was paying for that care."

Cooper and Charles were hired after Pittman's brother met some of the girls' family members while he was getting dialysis.

Pittman said when he heard one of the girls' name he was happy.

"I've been knowing that girl's family, the Coopers, since I was this high," he said, holding his hand out even with his lap as he sat in his electric wheelchair. "When I heard Cooper I knew I could trust her."

While Herbert Pittman trusted the women, Brian Pittman had his doubts. He said things just did not add up.

He questioned how they could afford the things they had when he knew how much he was paying them.

It also bothered him that the two girls refused to work separately.

"They had a new purse every day and nice cars," he said. "I didn't know how they could afford it since they said this was their only job."

And then there was the dwindling bank account.

At first he brushed it aside.

He said he and his grandfather were both using the account, and then there was the money being paid for the men repairing the house after Hurricane Katrina.

But when he noticed the account went down $4,000 in just one day, he decided something must have been up, and he began to question Cooper and Charles.

"They denied," he said, but other than him and his grandfather, no one else had access to the bankcard and credit cards.

As he started looking into the financial matters further, he noticed missing checks.

When the bank statements did not turn up, he went to the bank and began his own investigation, uncovering a trail of theft leading back to the day the women started working for them.

"They would go to the grocery and buy a pack of cigarettes and get $100 cash back," he said, adding that the theft started small but increased quickly.

The women were given access to the cards in order to buy groceries and meals for Pittman.

But once given the cards, Brian Pittman said, they did not willingly given them back right away and said things like "You don't trust me with your card."

"I wanted to believe it was OK," the elder Pittman said.

"He's gotten more kindhearted in his old age," Brian Pittman said of his grandfather.

This is not the first time the elderly man has been taken advantage of. The first caretaker Brian Pittman hired also stole from his grandfather.

Brian uncovered that theft as well after he came home and found fish swimming in his grandfather's bathtub.

When he shared the odd story with his friend who owns a pawnshop, the friend told him a man had come in to his shop with a similar story.

When Pittman questioned what the man pawned, he found some tools that had been stolen from his grandfather's shed. In both cases Pittman contacted authorities.

Sgt. Bobby Juge with the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office said it was not hard to surmise who had taken the money, as the two women where the only ones who had access to the cards. An investigation revealed unauthorized purchases made by the two women for nearly $70,000 in merchandise, including three vehicles.

The merchandise recovered included everything from curtain rods to a big screen television. Juge said stacks of clothes and boxes of shoes were also recovered, all with their price tags still on them.

Juge said it is unknown if they planned to keep the items or return them to the stores to get money for them.

He said the women were very arrogant about their crime and took pictures of themselves modeling some of the clothes and of other stolen items stacked at the residences.

Some of the items were recovered at Cooper's home at 1503 Hickory St., Slidell, and some of the items were recovered at Charles' home at 501 Taylor St., Picayune, Miss.

Charges were made in both St. Tammany and Picayune.

Both women have been charged with 15 counts of felony theft, 15 counts of unauthorized use of an access card (misdemeanor), 57 counts of misdemeanor theft, 57 counts of unauthorized use of an access card (felony) and 72 counts of exploitation of the infirmed (felony).

Juge said both women have previous criminal histories of theft-type crimes.

Each woman is being held in the St. Tammany Parish Jail on a $160,000 bond. They each face the possibility of 873 years in jail and $1,377,000 in fines.

They are also facing charges in Picayune.

Pittman said he feels bad about knowing the women are facing jail time because he knows they have children.

"Now they will be without a momma," he said.