A nurse in New York City has been charged with stealing two credit cards of a dying Covid-19 patient while on admission at the Staten Island University Hospital in April.
The 43 year-old nurse, Danielle Conti used the cards of late Anthony Catapano to buy gasoline and groceries.
Catapano, 70, was hospitalised on April 4 after getting sick from coronavirus, his daughter, Tara Catapano, said
He was lucid when the alleged theft occurred and later died on April 12 from complications of the virus.
“I was in shock and disbelief,” Tara Catapano said.
“Obviously, I knew it had to be a hospital employee because visitors weren’t really allowed.”
Tara Catapano, who had been paying her father’s bills since her mother passed away in 2014, said she normally doesn’t track her father’s spending closely.
However, after he died, she received a credit card statement for gasoline. She was alarmed that the purchase occurred on April 9, when her father was “in the hospital, literally fighting for his life.”
She contacted the police, more so as she also knew her father normally bought gasoline with cash.
Tara Catapano said the NYPD police showed her surveillance footage from a ShopRite of what appeared to be Conti paying for groceries using her father’s card.
“They take an oath to protect, not to harm,” Tara Catapano said.
The NYPD has charged Conti with grand larceny, petty larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, CNN reports.
Conti has also been suspended by the hospital where she had worked since 2007. Eventually, her appointment may be terminated.
