Caregiver charged with exploitation and neglect of elderly Athens woman, drug trafficking

By Joe Johnson

An Athens grand jury has charged an elderly Athens woman’s caregiver with stealing from and neglecting her.

DeLorean Elise Strickland, 38, of Hull, was charged with exploitation and neglect of a victim over 65 years old and trafficking methamphetamine, according to the indictment filed Tuesday in Superior Court.

The indictment stems from Strickland’s arrest in October for allegedly allowing the elderly woman to harm herself by not providing adequate supervision when the woman pulled out a kidney drainage tube.

Strickland jeopardized the health and wellbeing of the victim “by failing to secure consistent housing…despite having access to said victim’s bank account and monthly income, and failing to allow hospice workers to have consistent access to the victim in order to provide necessary healthcare,” the indictment states.

She also was late picking up the woman’s prescription from the pharmacy.

Strickland exploited the victim financially by the illegal transfer of $4,000 from the woman’s bank account.

She is being held at the county jail pending her arraignment in March.