A Missouri man’s bank account held at least $232,026 when a caregiver began working for him in July 2023. By July 2025, the balance had fallen below $5,600. Loretta Pyeatt, 52, of Dent County, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on September 4 to one count of fraud in connection with access devices, admitting she stole at least $321,000 from the man over roughly two years while serving as his in-home caregiver.
A Caregiver Given a Debit Card Meant for Groceries
Pyeatt worked for the victim from roughly July 2023 to September 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. The man was receiving Social Security Administration retirement benefits and Veterans Affairs benefits on a monthly basis at the time, and he handed Pyeatt his debit cards so she could buy groceries on his behalf. Prosecutors say she instead used the cards for cash withdrawals and unauthorized purchases of her own, a pattern that continued for roughly two years before it surfaced.
The change in the man’s banking activity was stark enough to stand out on its own. Before Pyeatt started working for him, he had 20 to 30 debit transactions a month. Once she had control of the cards, that volume ballooned to as many as 330 transactions in a single month, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors have not detailed what those hundreds of monthly transactions consisted of beyond cash withdrawals and unauthorized purchases, and the announced plea does not break the total down by individual charge. The transaction count itself, more than ten times the victim’s earlier usage, is the figure federal investigators highlighted when describing how the theft pattern became apparent.
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A Balance Drop of More Than $226,000 While Deposits Kept Arriving
The dollar trail runs alongside the transaction count. When Pyeatt began working for him in July 2023, the victim had at least $232,026 in the account tied to his monthly Social Security and VA deposits. By July 2025, prosecutors say, the balance had declined to less than $5,600, even though both benefit programs continued depositing funds into the account on their normal monthly schedule throughout that period.
Federal prosecutors put the total theft at a minimum of $321,000 across the roughly two-year period Pyeatt worked in the home. That figure exceeds the raw decline in the account balance because it also reflects the benefit income that kept arriving and being spent down on top of the original $232,026.
A Guilty Plea to Access Device Fraud, With Sentencing Set for December 9
Pyeatt’s September 4 court appearance was a guilty plea, not a sentencing, and no judge has yet determined what punishment she will receive. She admitted guilt to one count of fraud in connection with access devices, the federal charge covering fraudulent use of a debit or credit card. Sentencing is scheduled for December 9 in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
The charge carries a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both, under the statutory maximum for the offense. The Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General and the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jolene Taaffe is prosecuting it.
A guilty plea resolves the question of guilt, but it leaves open exactly what sentence Pyeatt will receive. The 15-year, $250,000 maximum sets the outer boundary the law allows; the actual sentence, and whether the court orders any restitution to the victim, will not be determined until the December 9 hearing.
A Pattern the Same Missouri Prosecutors Have Charged Before
Pyeatt’s case is not the only one the Eastern District of Missouri has brought this year involving a caregiver or relative and a victim’s government benefits. In a separate case from the same office, Laneka Holmes pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft of government money after admitting to stealing $170,000 in Social Security benefits, in a plea announced July 29.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed Pyeatt’s case under its Elder Justice and Financial Fraud program categories, the same classifications the office uses for prosecutions involving the financial exploitation of older adults and people with disabilities.
The recurrence points to a specific vulnerability in how benefit income is managed for older adults who need daily help. Accounts that refill automatically each month from Social Security or VA deposits are often managed day to day by a caregiver or relative holding the debit card. Because the deposits arrive on schedule regardless of the balance, a person with card access can draw the account down for an extended period without the income stream itself raising any flags.
The transaction-count shift in Pyeatt’s case illustrates how visible this kind of exploitation can look after the fact: a caregiver authorized for one stated purpose, buying groceries, whose card use multiplied more than tenfold within a single monthly statement, a pattern the bank’s own records showed in plain numbers well before the theft was reported to authorities.
In Pyeatt’s case, the detail that stood out to investigators was not a single suspicious purchase but the sheer transaction volume. The jump from 20 to 30 debit charges a month to as many as 330 is the specific figure the U.S. Attorney’s Office cited in announcing her guilty plea.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Financial Wire editorial team.
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Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
