Woman Pleads Guilty In Jewish Nursing Home Identity Theft Case

Channel Francis. Image by Courtesy of A.G. Schneiderman

By Josh Nathan-Kazis July 11, 2017

A 40-year-old Queens woman pleaded guilty this week to making unauthorized purchases on the credit cards belonging to three elderly patients at a New York Jewish nursing home.

Channel Francis, who was arrested last October and charged this past March by the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, faces up to four years in state prison.

“Identity theft of any kind is reprehensible — especially when it exploits vulnerable New Yorkers like nursing home residents,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “My office will not tolerate it.”

Relatives of three residents of the Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation complained to police in 2013 of unauthorized credit card charges in their elderly relative’s names. Investigators tracked the purchases to Francis, who had received personal information on the residents from an unidentified friend who worked at Parker Jewish.

Francis made $11,000 in purchases on the cards, including iPads and designer handbags.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

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