Jennie Ann McAfee is making a habit of allegedly targeting the weakest—and strongest—members of society. The habitual offender a few weeks ago allegedly broke into the home of a Flagler County Sheriff’s employee. On Wednesday, she was arrested for first defrauding a 77-year-old woman who was convalescing in a nursing home. Last year, she was arrested for defrauding a 79-year-old man. She’s been booked at the jail almost a dozen times since 2008 on burglary, robbery and probation violation charges, among others.
Her latest arrest on Wednesday is related to incidents that allegedly developed between early July and this week. While a 77-year-old victim was convalescing in a nursing home, McAfee and another person had access to the woman’s checkbook. McAfee, a resident of 19 Wood Arbor Lane, was living across the street from the elderly woman. According to McAfee’s arrest report, she and another woman wrote six checks off of the elderly woman’s bank account, totaling $700. They then approached a 75-year-old acquaintance of theirs and asked him to cash the checks for them. They said they had no proper ID to cash the checks themselves.
The acquaintance would later tell police that he didn’t know the checks were stolen. He gave them the money.
That case resembled a previous fraud case, dating back to around this time last year, when a 79-year-old man had two checks stolen after McAfee had been to his house. Both checks were subsequently cashed for $200 each. They were cashed into the account of Donald Stover, 75, of Palm Coast, who also ended up being roped into the fraud: McAfee had approached him, said she didn’t have proper ID to cash the checks and got the cash from him. Stover then deposited the checks in his account. He told cops that McAfee operated with another woman, and that the two were “inseparable.”
The two checks were returned, unpaid, so he was out the $400, which he has not recovered.
McAfee is currently being held without bond at the Flagler County jail on the fraud charges, but also on charges dating back to an incident in May, in her neighborhood, but on Wood Aspen Road.
The afternoon of May 3, Flagler County Sheriff deputy Frank Gamarra was dispatched to that area in reference to a woman in a black jogging suit seen coming out of a house that, according to the caller to 911, belongs to a cop.
Gamarra located the woman, who was biking, and who had a fresh cut on her hand. She was bleeding. She refused medical attention. It was McAfee. She consented to having her backpack searched. Gamarra found a large brick and two gray metal butter knives. Asked if she had any more weapons on her, McAfee said no. But a pat-down revealed a folding knife in her right front jacket pocket. Meanwhile, the man who’d called 911 appeared at the scene and confirmed to the cop that McAfee was the woman he’d seen leaving the rear of the house in question, where “he believes that a member of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office lives.”
The rear window on the north side of the residence had been smashed out, the screen taken off and bent in two. The rear slider screen had also been removed, according to the arrest report. The window and slider that were damaged were located underneath the overhanging roof. Damage amounted to around $200.
McAfee denied being anywhere near the house that had been burglarized, and went on to say that she’d merely been riding her bike, cutting in and out of backyards to get back to her own house. She said she’d gotten the brick from a friend to do some decorating in her yard.
The deputy didn’t buy her explanations. “McAfee could not produce a valid reason for the possession of the brick or knives in her possession,” the report states. “The window which was smashed had damage consistent with damage made from a large hard object like the brick Ms. McAfee had in her possession. The butter knives in Ms. McAfee’s possession are often used to pry underneath windows and screens. Ms. McAfee could not explain why the knives were in her back pack.”
No stolen objects were reported, however.
McAfee was arrested for burglary.
Seriously? says
Can she go to prision now?
EYEONFLAGLER says
ANOTHER ONE CAUGHT……LETS PUTS THIS ONE AWAY FOR A WHILE THIS TIME
GOOD JOB FCSO!
Florida Native says
Petty thieves and rocket scientists are obviously two different things.
A.S.F. says
Was she, or anyone connected with her, anywhere near Las Palmas when those burglaries took place? It looks like she has a pattern of targeting the elderly. The fact that she has branched out to an employee of the sheriff’s office just illustrates her sociopathy and contempt for society in general. Anything for a buck! This woman, if she gets bond, need to be graced with an ankle bracelet to monitor her movements until her case is adjucated.
Ted says
765 years old! That’s old
FlaglerLive says
Not nearly as old as our proof-reading.
RHWeir says
When she gets out, how about a one way bus ticket out of the state? I doubt she was ever gainfully employed here.
NortonSmitty says
Glad for the result, but this wasn’t exactly Sherlock Holmes vs. Professor Moriarty here.
NortonSmitty says
You’ll get it down eventually P.
I/M/O says
Obvious con artist. Con artists are classified as non violent offenders. Thus the revolving door every time she gets arrested.
Ralph Belcher says
When she’s sprung from jail perhaps she’ll discover that all her possessions at home turn up missing?
PC Mom says
If I remember correctly, this chic has been getting in trouble since High School….
Shame….what a waste.
Nancy N. says
Really, that’s your solution…pass the buck and make her someone else’s problem? Do you think that Palm Coast and Florida are the only places where people deserve to be safe? Do you not have relatives and friends living in other states that you might be concerned about?
ASF – I doubt she knew who lived in the house she targeted for the burglary. It was probably chosen at random as a good looking target.
Non-violent offenders with patterns of petty crimes like these typically have an underlying issue – sometimes it’s a mental health issue but most frequently it’s a substance abuse habit they are trying to support. Perhaps if this woman gets some help while she’s serving her time her life can be turned around and she can become a productive member of society, instead of continuing to cost the community money through a life of crime.
A.S.F. says
It’s hard to understand how this woman, who appears to be in her thirties, hasn’t been ordered into court-ordered treatment before now, as a condition of probation, with intensive supervision and the administration of random tox screens. Her problems, whatever they are (and they are obviously of a serious and long-standing nature) would not seem to be amenable to outpatient treatment only. If drugs/alcohol are her issue, she should be ordered into INPATIENT LONG-TERM treatment and, yes, any prayer of successful treatment would have to be located far away from the “people, places and things” that have contributed to her use. Upon release from LONG-TERM INPATIENT treatment, she would need immediate placement in a Halfway House/Sober Living environment. Even with all this intervention, she is high risk for relapse–hence the need for intensive probationatry supervision wherever she goes. Any financial assistance she receives should be handled by a court-appointed guardian, until such time as the court warrants her to be responsible. This is particularly true if she has mental health issues, possibly concurrent with substance abuse issues. It sounds expensive (in fact, it ain’t going to be cheap, if it’s any good) but without these interventions, she will be housed in prison at an even greater expense to the public and, upon release, will be doing more of the same for sure–soon enough and repeatedly.
Bethechange says
A special place in Hell, please for those who target the elderly. Add ‘coward’ to her list of transgressions. :(
tulip says
I wish that banks had some kind of program that would protect the accounts of the elderly from thieves who illegally access the older person’s account, but that’s another story.
Christopher V. says
To tulip – they used to…it was called Custeomer Service. The Bank employees used to know their customers on a personal basis and would recognize something unusual. Today, it is all about the almighty dollar, keeping costs down and employees who just wait for the day to end. A Shame.