UPDATE March 17, 2018 11:35 a.m: The Associated Press reports that the two Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies who are the subject of a criminal investigation are accused of stealing money from Rosalie Santallan Achiu, a 75-year-old woman with dementia.
In court documents attained by KTXL-TV Michael Abrate, the attorney for Achiu’s family, alleged a variety of suspicious activities – among them that deputy Stephanie Angel had moved Achiu into her home, and that weeks later Achiu’s house was posted for sale. He also said the deputies had accessed Achiu’s safe deposit box and later applied for a passport for her, then bought her a one-way ticket to the Philippines.
Angel’s attorney Richard Chan told the Associated Press that Angel was acting in Achiu’s best interest and only following her wishes.
Original Post, March 15, 2018: A citizen’s complaint regarding an elderly woman gone missing has now resulted in a criminal investigation into two Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies.
On Wednesday, the sheriff’s department said it received the complaint in January regarding the welfare of the senior.
A statement from the department says “the complainant suspected that two Sheriff’s Deputies had taken advantage of [an] elderly female who potentially suffered from diminished mental capacity.”
A female deputy with 14 years on the job and a male with six have been placed on administrative leave pending both criminal and administrative investigations.
The person making the complaint reported not seeing the woman for several days. That’s when the department launched an investigation into her whereabouts.
It eventually discovered that she’d boarded an airplane and flew to the Philippines to stay with family.
Federal officers helped find the woman, and deputies also traveled to the Philippines, interviewed the woman and escorted her home.
The statement says several search warrants were executed, which uncovered “many unusual activities” by the two deputies, while they were on and off duty.
Accusations of improper conduct also came to investigators’ attention from another county, as of yet unnamed, for one of the officers. Both cases are under review by their respective district attorney’s offices.
The Sheriff’s Department investigation included the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Attorney’s Office, and the U.S. Marshal’s service.
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