STATEN ISLAND — A Staten Island nurse is facing felony charges after allegedly stealing the credit card of a dying coronavirus patient, using it to buy gas and groceries, police said.
According to authorities, Danielle Conti, a nurse at Staten Island University Hospital North since 2007, swiped the credit card of 70-year-old Anthony Catapano as he lay hooked up to a ventilator fighting for his life.
Police said the 43-year-old nurse, who lives in New Jersey, used the plastic on April 9 to ring up $60.23 in charges, the card being used at both a gas station and grocery store, according to the victim’s daughter, Tara Catapano.
Catapano said in a Facebook post that her father entered the hospital on April 4 and was there until he passed away on April 12.
“Due to the pandemic no visitors are allowed, therefore that means a hospital employee stole my father’s credit card, used it and then returned it to his wallet,” she wrote in the April 27 post.
The grieving daughter also claimed that when she finally got her father’s belongings after his passing, his cellphone, phone chargers, eyeglasses, money and a buzzer were missing, and still have not been returned to her.
“How would they feel if this was their parent?” she wondered about the credit-card thief in her frustrated Facebook post. “I’m going through so much with losing my father, this is the absolute last thing that I need.”
Police told PIX11 that Conti has been charged with grand larceny. She is set to appear in Staten island Criminal Court at a future date.
Staten Island University Hospital said in a statement: “Danielle Conti has been temporarily suspended and faces termination in response to the felony charges. We are working closely with the law enforcement authorities and the hospital is conducting its own investigation.”
