Palm Desert In-Home Caregiver for Elderly Ordered to Stand Trial on Burglary Charge

By City News Service, image via Shutterstock

A Palm Desert woman accused of stealing thousands of dollars in cash, valuables and personal information for purposes of identity theft from clients for whom she worked as an in-home caregiver was ordered Tuesday to stand trial.

Janace Nicole Jingles, 31, was held to answer to a single charge of burglary, but a judge concluded there was not enough evidence to proceed to trial on an embezzlement count.

Investigators looking into a series of incidents dating back to January 2014 received a complaint from a 94-year-old Rancho Mirage resident, who reported that cash and a bracelet worth about $10,000 had gone missing shortly after Jingles began working for her as an in-home caregiver two months earlier, sheriff’s officials said.

Deputies from the Palm Desert Burglary Suppression Unit served a search warrant in March at Jingles’ home in the 74500 block of Avenue 42, where they found the bracelet, other allegedly stolen property and alleged evidence related to identity theft, sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Eller said at the time.

Jingles previously was arrested in January on suspicion of identity theft and elder abuse involving another in-home care client, Eller said.

Jingles remains free on $30,000 bail, with arraignment scheduled for June 16.