Police: Florida nurse steals $110K from Holocaust survivor

56-year-old Odalis Lopez is arrested and charged with grand theft and elderly financial exploitation

By AP and ToI Staff 8 August 2019, 2:47 pm

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Florida nurse Odalis Lopez, 56, is accused of stealing $110,000 from a Holocaust survivor and her husband. (screen capture: WSVN local news)

MIAMI — A Florida nurse has been accused of stealing hundreds of thousands in life savings from a Holocaust survivor and her husband.

News outlets report 56-year-old Odalis Lopez was arrested Friday and charged with grand theft and elderly financial exploitation. Lopez was employed as a caretaker since 2011 for Rella and Leonard Herman, who are both in their 90s.

An arrest warrant says Lopez made exorbitant charges on their credit cards, including spending more than $110,000 at Publix grocery stores.

Herman’s grandson Micah also accused Lopez of stealing from the couple’s retirement funds, because the couple unwittingly paid off the cards using money from Rella Herman’s German reparation checks.

“This was reparation money. We’re talking about what the German government gives to survivors,” he told local Fox News affiliate WSVN 7 news. “How could you do something like this?”