Mother, daughter charged with abuse, swindle of senior citizens

Indictment includes counts of misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit a crime, fraud, abuse of helpless persons; pair's suspected victims include Holocaust survivors

Naama Cohen-Friedman|Published: 04.29.13 , 17:27

Criminal charges were brought Monday against Roza and Ortal Annu, mother and daughter suspected of swindling and exploiting senior citizens. The indictment included counts of misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit a crime, fraud, exploitation and abuse of helpless persons.

The two are suspected of stealing the money and property of elderly persons to the tune of millions of shekels. Police said several of their victims ended up begging on the streets for food and money.

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The prosecution sought to remand the Tel Aviv-based suspects until the end of proceedings, but the judge decided to release Ortal under restrictive conditions. Her mother Roza will remain in custody until further notice.

The two were arrested at the end of an undercover investigation which spanned three months and included collecting testimonies from five suspected victims, in addition to a number of social workers and bank clerks.

Arrests began with Ortal, 28, who was employed as a caretaker to an elderly woman. In the course of the investigation it was revealed that her mother Roza, 64, was also involved in the incidents.

Allegedly, the two would “spot” victims suited for their plan – elderly, alone, in need of nursing care and eligible for insurance benefits. In several instances, their victims were Holocaust survivors who received government stipends.

Their method of action involved contacting victims and introducing themselves as nursing caretakers. They forced one of the elderly men in their care to put his apartment in their names, and then sold it.

Police say they took another old woman under their care to the bank several times, and forced her to withdraw hundreds of thousands of shekels. A third victim was made to transfer NIS 80,000 to them, in addition to diamonds valued at tens of thousands of shekels.

Other victims were forced to empty their retirement funds and transfer the money to the women's accounts. During the investigation, testimony was given by bank clerks who tried to dissuade the victims from doing so, but to no avail.