MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A patient hospitalized at Jackson South Medical Center received notifications about suspicious transactions on his debit card as he and his daughter were in his assigned room. According to police, the man behind the unauthorized charges turned out to be one of his nurses.
According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Police Department, on May 11, Bank of America flagged $760.91 worth of transactions at Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy and Walmart locations in southwest Miami-Dade.
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The victim and his daughter immediately checked his bag and noticed the card was missing, police said. So too were his Fossil watch and $250 in cash.
Police pulled surveillance video from the stores and saw the same man using the card in all three instances, the report states.
A detective then contacted Jackson South security staff and asked for a list of names and images of staff members who attended to the patient. One of the nurses at the southwest Miami-Dade hospital was a match, authorities said: David Capote.
Police said the surveillance video shows Capote, 37, wearing the same “distinct” sneakers in the stores that he wears to work at Jackson South. Additionally, cellphone data placed him near the three stores, according to the report.
On Tuesday, detectives went to Capote’s Kendall home, located in the 10300 block of Southwest 138th Street, in an attempt to meet with him, the report states, but he was driving away as they arrived.
Police said they then pulled him over near Southwest 100th Avenue and arrested him on six felony charges. They said he invoked his right to an attorney and did not speak with them.
Capote faces three charges of fraudulent use of a credit card, one count of third-degree grand theft, one count of exploitation of an elderly or disabled person and one count of fraudulent use of identification. He was no longer listed in jail records as of Wednesday afternoon.
Jackson Health System released a statement on Capote’s arrest Wednesday:
“Jackson Health System’s Public Safety Department has been collaborating with Miami-Dade Police on an investigation involving a Jackson South Medical Center nurse, accused of stealing credit cards from a patient and an employee,” a spokesperson said. “David Capote, who has worked as a clinical staff nurse at Jackson South for a year, is now under administrative leave pending termination.”
The spokesperson continued, “Jackson does not condone any type of criminal acts against anyone in our facilities. The safety of our patients, families and employees is our top priority.”