A Breach of Trust : Crime: Police say caretaker for elderly took $100,000 in valuables from clients in three states.

A caretaker for the elderly was charged with grand theft Tuesday after police seized more than $100,000 in jewelry and other valuables she allegedly stole from clients throughout the Southwest using a variety of identities.

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Sondra Joanna Khosla, 48, was arrested Friday after authorities found more than 2,000 items--including jewelry, antiques, credit cards and china--in her Santa Ana motel room and in a rented storage locker in Tustin, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis said. The charges include a special allegation that the suspect used a position of trust to target someone older than 65.

The recovered goods were believed stolen over three years from Khosla’s clients in Arizona, Utah and throughout California, Gonis said.

Gonis said police were tipped off recently when a 92-year-old Newport Beach woman reported that her caretaker, whose name she believed was Sia Siino, had stolen a 1926 wedding ring from her finger as she slept. Detectives later discovered that at least four other elderly people whom Khosla had cared for in Newport Beach and Garden Grove were missing valuables, Gonis said.

Mac Burt, 91, of Garden Grove said police recovered a 71-year-old dagger from Damascus and a .38-caliber handgun that disappeared from his home after the woman moved in for four days last month to fill in for his regular attendant, who was on vacation.

“I think it’s awful. I’d never have her in the house again,” Burt said.

A manager of the Costa Mesa firm that Burt said had provided the aide said he did not remember Khosla and was too busy to check personnel records.

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Authorities said Khosla moved from state to state, getting temporary work under 11 aliases. She is believed to have lived in Orange County for at least three months, Gonis said. A search of the motel room--her last known address--turned up paperwork indicating that she used false names and fictitious academic degrees, he said. One was a medical school diploma, he said.

The 10-by-25-foot storage unit was loaded with household items, and her motel room held eight bags and suitcases containing jewelry and antiques, Gonis said. Among the items recovered were antique silver items and an $1,800 leather jacket bought with a stolen credit card, he said.

Orange County prosecutors have filed about a dozen cases this year involving theft from the elderly by caretakers, said Rosanne Froeberg, a deputy district attorney who handles elderly abuse cases.

“It happens more often than we would like to think,” Froeberg said. “You’ve got old people who are quite isolated, and if they need people to come in and care for them, they are more vulnerable.”

Police are asking anyone with information on the case to contact Newport Beach Police Department at (800) 550-NBPD.