‘It’s reprehensible:’ Search for thief who stole from resident in senior living facility

A 91-year-old victim is speaking out in hopes of tracking down a suspect who got into her room at an Oakville senior living facility.

“I came back from lunch and there was this strange man in my room,” Nancy Baldwin recalls.

It was December 21, 2023, and it wasn’t just a man but two women who welcomed her at her door when she returned from lunch.

“I didn’t know who they were but they were chatting with me.”

Balwin now believes those women were distracting her from what was happening inside her room. She called her daughter shortly after the trio left.

“She had been telling me things from her room were missing, but my mom has dementia so I thought maybe she just misplaced them,” said Carla Mackley.

Mackley and her brother had already installed security cameras throughout their mother’s room and she was shocked at what she saw.

“Right at the time she was returning from lunch, I saw that awful video of a man ransacking her room,” said Mackley of the thief going through her mother’s jewelry boxes, pocketing items, and biting others to see if they were gold.

“He knew what he was doing and started rummaging through other drawers trying to find valuables.”

The unidentified man is seen going through a box that contains the ashes of Baldwin’s late husband.

“Luckily he left that,” Mackley said.

Baldwin believes a gold bracelet and other jewelry were taken.

“She didn’t have a great inventory of all her items so there may be more,” added Mackley.

Baldwin lives in the Vistamere Retirement Residence in Oakville. It’s believed those involved did not work at the facility.

“I don’t know how they got in; they must have had a passkey,” Baldwin said.

Adam Wiener, the director of operations for Fieldgate Retirement Living which operates Vistamere, tells CityNews they are taking the matter very seriously, having contacted both Halton Regional Police and the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority.

“We have been in full cooperation and constant communication with both the authorities and regulatory body since the incident occurred,” said Weiner.

He adds the centre will undergo a major security overhaul which includes the installation of CCTV cameras at all entrances and exits of the property, internal policy and process review, and educational seminars with residents on ways they can protect themselves against fraud and scams.

Neither Baldwin nor her family hold Vistamere responsible and say management has been quick to respond to the incident.

“This place has been wonderful and we’ve never had a single issue before, my mother loves living here,” Mackley said. “This is just a case of people somehow exploiting the system.”

Halton Police are investigating but so far no arrests have been made.

Baldwin and her daughter are speaking out in hopes someone recognizes the man in the video. The cameras did not capture the women who are alleged to have helped him.

“It’s the principle that he came in here and attacked a very vulnerable segment of society without conscience. It’s reprehensible,” Mackley said. “He needs to be identified and face justice before he does this to somebody else.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Halton Regional Police or Crimestoppers.

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