An aged care worker has pleaded guilty to stealing a resident’s credit card and spending more than $18,000 on handbags, groceries and cigarettes, taking herself bowling, on carnival rides and getting her ears pierced during a five-week spree in western Sydney.
Tracy Leah Salmon, 46, was working at Carrington Care’s Grasmere Terrace facility in Camden when she stole the card of an 89-year-old woman who had recently entered the nursing home.
Carrington Care’s Grasmere Terrace, where an 89-year-old woman’s credit card was stolen by a staff member. Credit:
The 89-year-old woman had been in the aged care home for less than a week, after moving there from hospital, when her credit card was stolen. She has no cognitive decline and uses a wheelchair.
According to the agreed facts submitted to the court, Salmon stole the credit card following a conversation with the woman where she revealed she had yet to set up a power of attorney and had no next of kin. Salmon, who was rostered to provide caring duties to the woman in her suite, stole the credit card from her purse, which she kept in a cupboard.
Across 35 days in September and October 2024, Salmon made multiple transactions across Campbelltown, keeping each under $100 to enable contactless payment.
On three days, she tapped the card more than a dozen times, spending over $1000. The highest charge was on October 31, the day the card was cancelled, when Salmon spent $1400.
She purchased thousands of dollars worth of fast food, alcohol, cigarettes and petrol, frequenting Kmart, Woolworths and Chemist Warehouse. She spent $250 on McDonald’s in 24 hours and, in what police called an “impulse purchase”, also used the card to buy a $3.50 sausage from Bunnings.
Over 150 of the purchases were captured on CCTV, which showed Salmon committing the crime while wearing her uniform.
