Owner of Gilpin personal care home accused of stealing $111K from dead resident's account

State police accused the owner of a personal care home in Gilpin Township of stealing nearly $111,500 from a resident’s credit union account after the 75-year-old woman died.

Carrie Ann Leway, 42, of the 300 block of Godfrey Road faces five counts each of forgery and identity theft, all felonies, according to a criminal complaint.

She was released from custody on a $25,000 unsecured bond. She faces a preliminary hearing March 23 on the charges before District Judge James Andring, according to court records.

State police at the Kittanning station began investigating Leway on March 3 after officials with the Armstrong County Federal Employees Federal Credit Union reported suspicious activity on the account of a woman who died Feb. 26, according to a criminal complaint.

Investigators said Leway, who owns the Memory Meadows Personal Care Home on Godfrey Road, nearly emptied the dead woman’s account by forging her signature on checks and depositing them into her own account, the complaint said.

Bank records show that on March 2 and 3, Leway wrote out five checks totaling $111,470 that were listed as “gifts” for Leway’s family members or a donation to her personal care home, police said.

Investigators noted the name of the victim, who was not identified in court papers, was misspelled on two of the five checks Leway is accused of forging and depositing into her account.

Police said Leway initially told them the resident instructed her to write the checks out and help her sign them Feb. 20 when they were together.

When pressed by investigators, however, Leway admitted she made the checks out and signed them after the woman’s death because she believed she “would have wanted her to have the money because they talked about it before she died,” the complaint said.

Investigators said the signature Leway wrote on the checks also did not match the one the deceased resident had on file with the credit union, the complaint said.