At-home healthcare provider arrested after allegedly stealing jewelry from elderly client

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An at-home healthcare provider has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of high-end jewelry from her elderly clients.

33-year-old Zapporah Gibson is facing several charges after being accused of stealing a Rolex watch and rings worth thousands of dollars from a home where she was providing in-home healthcare to an elderly woman with Alzheimer's.

"Elderly people often times or are targeted because they can become an easy target, especially if they're someone who's in cognitive decline," said Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department.

Court documents state Gibson had been in the victim's home several times, multiple days at a time and when the 85-year-old husband went to find his rings for a dinner date with his wife, they were missing.

"Any time you're letting a health care worker come into your home, you're letting a stranger into your house. So that has its own set of dangers or or risks," said Knight.

Documents say the man told police he received the Rolex watch as a gift when he was working overseas in the oil business.

Gibson used that same story when she sold the watch to a watch store in Warr Acres.

She sold two of the victim's rings to pawn shops for cash and a worker at one of the pawn shops confirmed they had seen Gibson inside their store.

The documents also state the owner of that same pawn shop gave police a "written receipt with her information on it."

"Make sure you've either locked them up or you have given them to a trusted person, a relative, a family member that can keep them for you at their place to keep it from being stolen," said Knight.

Gibbon is being charged with Grand Larceny and False Declaration to a pawn shop.

Police were able to return the Rolex watch and one of the stolen rings to the victim.