A Carmel caregiver is in jail after authorities say she surreptitiously took over $29,000 from an 87-year-old client over two years, leaving the woman isolated and short on funds. Adula Valdivia, 49, was taken into Hamilton County Jail on various felony counts, including theft, deception, and exploitation of an endangered adult.
According to police and court documents obtained by WISH-TV, Valdivia allegedly charged the victim’s credit cards 66 times between 2023 and 2025. According to investigators, she used the cards to purchase airline tickets to Chicago, Phoenix, and Mexico for herself and her daughter, as well as to make credit card payments and channel money to a firm she owned that eventually dissolved. The suspected victim, 87-year-old Alice Galloway, has received in-home assistance from Visiting Angels, according to detectives. Hamilton County prosecutors have filed the case in Superior Court 1, and Valdivia is still in detention pending trial.
Neighbor Amy Smith told WISH-TV that she became worried when Galloway stopped walking down to pick up her mail. Smith claimed Valdivia stopped neighbors from checking on Galloway, which residents later described to authorities as a pattern of isolation and financial control. Those concerns, according to neighbors, prompted the investigation that resulted in the accusations…