Caregiver Arrested After Stealing Money From A Dewey Man She Was Looking After

A woman has been arrested in connection with exploiting an 89-year-old Dewey man for money. Yavapai County Sheriff’s officials say in early May, a deputy met with the man and his daughter at his home. The daughter, who admitted not monitoring her dad’s financial situation for several years, recently did and believed his current caregiver, 51-year-old Christine Garthright, was taking money from her dad. The man was suffering from a recent stroke and is hard of hearing, can’t see well and have occasional memory loss. The man hired Garthright four years ago and allowed her to work as a “live-in” rent free in lieu of salary. During this time, the victim bought Garthright a car, her daughter a car and paid her daughter’s rent in Washington state. Also, the victim paid several thousand dollars to fix Garthright’s teeth and paid to allow her to visit her daughter. The man’s daughter found Garthright wrote 26 unauthorized checks to herself and eight to her daughter totaling more than $11-thousand. She also withdrew cash without permission and stole several thousand dollars from his safe. In recent months Garthright was nowhere to be found and there was no help for trips to the store or the doctors. When she was at the home, she also became verbally abusive and hit him in the face when he refused to provide money. Garthright returned to the home Wednesday, where she was arrested. She was booked into the Camp Verde Detention Center for fraud, theft, computer tampering forgery and trespassing, when she came back ignoring an order to stay away. Bond has not been set in the case.