A Florida care manager employed at a senior living facility has been charged with exploiting her position to drain nearly $100,000 from the bank accounts of two dementia patients under her care.
Megan Elizabeth Bernat, 46, of Port St. Lucie, allegedly used her access as a case manager at MorseLife's West Palm Beach senior community to initiate mobile payments from residents' accounts to her Capital One credit card, according to West Palm Beach police and reporting by the Miami Herald.
First Victim
Police say 55 payments totaling approximately $68,540 were transferred from one woman's TD Bank account between February 2023 and June 2025. The resident, who lived at the facility and had Alzheimer's disease, was unable to explain or authorize the transfers, according to investigators.
Second Victim
A second MorseLife resident, a 92-year-old man with dementia, had approximately $31,295 moved from his Wells Fargo account across 30 payments between May 2023 and April 2024. Six of those payments allegedly occurred after his death on March 15, 2024.
Charges
Bernat was arrested in September 2025 on elderly exploitation and money laundering charges related to the first victim. She was arrested again in July 2026 on related charges involving the second victim. She has pleaded not guilty in the case involving the deceased resident.
