PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Bronx, New York woman is facing felony charges in Palm Beach County after investigators say she drained more than $156,000 from her elderly aunt’s condominium sale proceeds — money that was supposed to pay for the woman’s assisted living care. Crystal Olga Terry Gonzalez, 38, of Underhill Avenue in the Bronx, is charged with grand theft from a person 65 or older and exploitation of an elderly or disabled adult, both felonies.
According to documents filed by Coral Springs Police Detective Eugene Cashier in Palm Beach County, the aunt — a vulnerable adult with advanced dementia who has since died — sold her Hialeah condominium in April 2021 to help cover her stay at Palms Edge Assisted Living Facility in Palm Beach Gardens. The closing at First International Title in Coral Springs produced a check for $156,295.82, which investigators say was deposited into two joint JPMorgan Chase accounts opened just one day earlier in the names of the aunt and Gonzalez, who was acting as her caretaker. Within days, detectives say, Gonzalez began moving the money into accounts in her name only.
The affidavit allegedly shows investigators say the money actually went. Gonzalez allegedly withdrew $13,736 in cash, transferred roughly $45,000 into her personal account, and ran up more than $63,000 in personal purchases at retailers across the New York and New Jersey area — Foot Locker, Best Buy, Marshalls, Home Depot, Olive Garden and dozens more — while paying down her own credit cards at Citi, Discover, Target, Capital One and Bank of America.
Meanwhile, payments to the assisted living facility dropped from $3,000 a month to $1,053, leaving the aunt with an unpaid balance topping $26,000 and the facility warning she would need to be moved somewhere cheaper.
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