South Florida man accused of stealing life-savings, home of 71-year-old retired nurse who lived with disabled daughter
A South Florida man has been charged with multiple felonies after he "looted the finances" of a 71-year-old retired nurse who lived with her disabled and vulnerable adult daughter in Miami Shores, the Miami-Dade State's Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday.
According to information provided by Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, 55-year-old Lyne Bien-Aime was arrested after a lengthy investigation.
According to Rundle, the victim, identified as Marie Bertrand, suffered a major health episode that left her with a cognitive impairment and the need for around-the-clock care before her death in December 2022.
Bien-Aime appears to have originally met the victim through associations with her church, and then allegedly misrepresented himself as the victim's nephew when he was in contact with medical officials, Rundle said.
According to the investigation, Bien-Aime allegedly spoke with the victim's sister and family, who were living in New York, and told them he was a doctor who was going to oversee her care.
CBS News Miami spoke with Vagner Valbrun, Bertrand's brother, who said he was grateful that an arrest had been made.
He said, "That was my favorite sister. What I feel is that he did a terrible thing. God is good. I am very happy to hear the news that an arrest was made."
He said, "After my sister died in the hospital, he went to clear out all of her money."
He said that money was intended to help her disabled daughter, who is now 49 years old and living with relatives in New York City.
He said Bien Aime had told family members that he was a doctor, and he said he told hospitals that he was Bertrand's nephew.
However, those claims allowed him to gain access to the victim and allowed him to isolate and manipulate her for his own gain, Rundle claims.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said, "He pretended to be a family member, and he pretended to be a doctor, and all were false representations that he made to hospitals, to banks, to move cash out of bank accounts. He had power of attorney."
He then continued to steal from her, Rundle claims, by fraudulently transferring her property into his name.
The victim's life savings and home were supposed to be used to hold "safeguard the future of the victim's severely disabled daughter after the victim's death," Rundle said.
The victim's daughter was taken to New York to be with family during the victim's health crisis, Rundle said, where she remained until the victim's death on Dec. 16, 2022.
Fernandez Rundle said, "This is really intolerable and inexcusable. I want to reach out to the community and say you have to watch out for your elderly and disabled adults. You may think they are being well taken care of, and they may be, but you never know."
Fernandez Rundle says there has been a deluge of cases of people being exploited by relatives, caretakers, hospitals, and strangers, and she said her office has a special task force that helps elderly and disabled adults.
She said that Bertrand was "betrayed by someone she went to church with."
Bien-Aime now faces several felony charges, including exploitation of an elderly/disabled person, grand theft from a person over 65, and scheme to defraud in an amount over $50,000. He's also charged with unlawful filing of false documents or records against real or personal property.