For three years, she was just another Jane Doe.
In 2010, a mentally disabled woman was unceremoniously dumped at an Alabama hospital, wearing an adult diaper and a hospital gown. Unable to communicate her identity, she racked up $200,000 in medical bills while the one person responsible for her well-being cashed in on her social security checks.
Now, investigators have found her true name. And they’ve also given her one more gift — justice.
Police arrested 59-year-old Cathy Jean Thomas for identity theft on Monday evening. They say the Georgia woman collected more than $25,000 in social security that should have belonged to her ward, Edith Allen.
“It’s a relief to me,” Lt. Scott Bartle of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent told AL.com. “It’s been a long, drawn-out process over something that should have never happened.”
When Allen first showed up at St. Vincent’s East Hospital, the malnourished woman weighed less than 90 pounds. Her cropped hair had recently been dyed a dark brown. She was also wearing black-rimmed glasses, in a possible attempt to hide her identity.
Doctors discovered that she had a urinary tract infection. But no one knew who she was. The only clue was an engraving on her dentures that said, “E. Allen.”
Nurses at the hospital soon started calling the woman “Sally.” Stories about the search for her identity were published in local media, but investigators kept hitting dead ends.
Since she didn’t have an identity, she didn’t qualify for Medicaid. And Allen needed a lot of help. She became bedridden and needed to be fed through a tube — so the hospital bills started adding up.
Recently, the story about Allen’s disappearance popped up on the Internet once again. It was placed on the website LostNMissing.com, a national non-profit that helps find missing people.
Investigators found out that Allen had been living with one of Thomas’ family members. When that person passed away in 2009, Cathy Thomas assumed the role of caretaker.
Thomas claims she wasn’t the one who dropped Allen off at the hospital. But she hasn’t denied using the mentally disabled woman’s social security checks.
“Thomas did acknowledge receiving Edith Allen’s money and using it to obtain goods and services that never went to Allen,” Bartle said. “For three years, she has reaped the benefits of those checks.”
Thomas is now being held on a $50,000 bond.
Although authorities were unable to find any of Allen’s living relatives, the woman has gotten some help from strangers. She has moved to a new care facility and donations are helping to pay for her medical expenses.
On a mobile device? Click here to view the video.
