80-year-old Oakdale woman targeted for theft at least twice

Someone entered the home of an 80-year-old visually impaired woman twice this month and stole from her.

Even worse, the thief or thieves might have targeted her because of her disability, and they did it the same week her best friend died.

“They knew some way or another that I was visually impaired,” said the victim, Pam, during an interview at her home Friday. The Bee is withholding her last name for her protection. “I could have been here. That part is scary.”

Authorities believe the thefts might have happened while Pam was home. There were no signs of forced entry, so the door might have been unlocked or the culprit had a key.

It was an Oakdale Police Department volunteer who noticed that items were missing. Lupe Aguilera is a member of Citizens Volunteer Auxiliary Police Services. Among the volunteer’s responsibilities is a program called Senior Outreach, which is designed to check on the elderly or disabled who don’t have family to care for them.

Aguilera said she learned March 14 that Pam’s best friend had died, so she went to check on her.

Pam told Aguilera she couldn’t find her purse, which contained her wallet with cash, identification and checkbook, as well as as a braille slate and stylus she used to write down telephone numbers or notes.

Two days later, Aguilera went back to see Pam and immediately noticed her antique rocking chair – given to Pam by her mother 60 years ago – was missing. Also, another purse containing cash was gone.

The rocking chair always was positioned next to the recliner in which Pam likes to sit. Stacked on it were the braille magazines and books Pam reads.

Aguilera said the rocking chair had been replaced by a kitchen chair, and the magazines stacked there, possibly so as not to arouse suspicion. Pam didn’t realize it until Aguilera told her.

“When she started to feel around, she said ‘Where’s the rocker?’ ” Aguilera said.

Aguilera found drag marks leading down Pam’s yard to a cinder-block wall separating it from a neighboring apartment complex; a boulder had been set alongside the wall.

“This does not necessarily mean that the suspects live at the apartments, but someone at the apartment complex may have seen suspects carrying a wooden rocking chair to a vehicle or an apartment,” according to a news release from police.

Aguilera said there was a break in the fence around Pam’s backyard, where her shed was open. Items in it were pushed aside as if someone had been sleeping there.

Aguilera called her brother to fix the fence and called Pam’s landlord to change all the locks.

She said she worries that Pam might be victimized again, that she doesn’t have anyone to look after her and that she will become depressed over the loss of her friend, Linda. Aguilera said Linda was a very close friend; she helped Pam do laundry and pay bills and fixed her lunch.

Aguilera visited Pam on Friday and listened as she talked mostly about her friend of more than 35 years. “For the first week or two (after losing a loved one), the first thing you realize when you wake up in the morning is, ‘Oh, yeah, she’s gone,’ ” Pam said.

Aguilera said she’s asked neighbors and Pam’s landlord to check in on her and has contacted other senior-aid programs run through the county and Catholic Charities.

“I am trying to get her a network of people from different agencies to visit her regularly so she doesn’t feel like there’s no hope,” Aguilera said. “Right now she feels like there is no hope.”

Anyone with information about this theft is asked to call Oakdale police Officer Dan Taylor at 209-847-2231.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "80-year-old Oakdale woman targeted for theft at least twice."