VCSO: Woman Steals From Assisted Living Facility

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Deltona, FL - The newly hired executive director of an Ormond Beach assisted living facility is placed behind bars after deputies say she stole from her former employer.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office arrested 44-year-old Ida Austin of Lake Mary after she broke into Gold Choice Assisted Living in Deltona and stole a number of items.

According to VCSO, they responded to a call at Gold Choice around 10 a.m. Wednesday (August 8th) in response to a theft. It's there they spoke with the facility's regional director.

He says he was first made suspicious when close to 8 p.m. on Tuesday (August 7th), overnight employees found Austin on the property. It's then that they contacted their supervisor, who told them to escort her off the property and a police report would be made in the morning, according to the arrest report.

The director says it wasn't until security camera footage was reviewed the next morning that they found Austin was on the property for nearly an hour and stole multiple items. He was able to identify her from the video and her vehicle seen in the footage.

Deputies say they reviewed the footage and observed Austin arrive in her gold BMW and enter through the front door, using the door code from her previous employment. When she left they noted she was carrying a tote and a model airplane. She then loaded the items into her car before leaving the scene.

Some of those items included a crib, manuals, dietary and activity logs. Some of those items were also found at Austin's new employer, Horizons Assisted Living Facility in Ormond Beach.

Investigators made contact with Austin on Wednesday and interviewed her about the situation.

She says she took several binders back in December of 2017, stating the binders contained operational procedures which were located in the garage of her Lake Mary residence. She openly denied stealing any other binders from Gold Choice.

She then said that she went to Gold Choice because she was contacted by the activities manager who told her she could have two model airplanes because they were to be thrown out. She also said the same for the crib.

Upon denying taking any binders again, she was presented with photos from the security footage that showed her with the stolen property. Austin then began to change her story, saying she needed them for an upcoming project at her new employer.

Austin showed deputies the binders she took, keeping them right outside her office.

Detectives then brought in Gold Choice's regional director, who identified the binders as the property of Gold Choice after a walkaround of the facility.

According to the arrest report, Austin was fired in December for not disclosing her past criminal history, but a Gold Choice spokesperson told WNDB after the story aired that she resigned voluntarily due to health issues in her immediate family.

She has since left Volusia County Jail after posting $30,000 bond.