DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — A 54-year-old Decatur woman has been indicted by a Morgan County Grand Jury for identity theft and for allegedly writing numerous checks to herself totaling nearly $100,000.

Melissa Ann Hale was arrested on Tuesday by the Decatur Police Department (DPD) on a Grand Jury warrant was issued. She was charged with first-degree financial exploitation of the elderly and placed on a $200,000 cash bond.

Hale was accused in June 2022 of stealing $91,000 from an elderly resident she helped take care of, according to authorities, after someone with the Morgan County Department of Human Resources filed a report about a 79-year-old who may have been financially exploited.

Through the investigation, detectives found that 29 checks had been deposited into an account belonging to Hale. The checks were written out with amounts between $2,000 and $4,000 each.

DPD said the victim did not give permission for the checks and did not know about them.

Officials said later in the investigation they also found a credit card account under the victim’s information where Hale was an authorized user and all of the expenses were hers.

Hale was arrested and charged on June 23, she faces one first-degree theft of property charge and 10 counts of third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. She was additionally charged with identity theft and an additional $30,000 bond was set.

There are currently no hearings set in Hale’s case, according to court records.