PENNSDALE — When the elderly man moved in with Maire Lorimer at her then rental home in the 900 block of Rabbittown Road in Muncy Township in late November 2020, it was with the understanding that Lorimer, a former nurse’s aide for a home health care service company, would be the man’s full-time caretaker, according to court documents filed by Muncy Township police.

However, come the following June 25, Lorimer, now 63, called the man’s son and told him she had bought a house and was moving that day. She told the son he better come get his father or he would be left alone, police said. The son came and took him to his home in Allenwood, police said. Lorimer told the son she won more than $500,000 in the lottery, and spent some of that money for a $4,500 ring she bought for herself at a jeweler in the Muncy area, it was stated in an affidavit,

Investigators now allege that during the time the man was living with Lorimer, the former nurse’s aide forged 27 of his checks, stealing nearly $56,000 from his bank account. Family members believe that Lorimer stole a lot more than that, but only $55,581 could be documented by investigators, according to township Police Chief Christopher McKibben.

A woman who collected Lorimer’s monthly rent told McKibben that “she overheard Lorimer say numerous times ‘I can’t wait for him to die so I can have all his money,” it was stated in the affidavit.

Police allege that one of the more than three-dozen checks Lorimer forged actually paid for the ring that she falsely claimed to have purchased with some of her lottery winnings. Investigators believe the new residence Lorimer claimed to have bought was a property on Odell Road in Fairfield Township. When questioned by police, Lorimer said when the man first moved in with her, he told her “I’m going to make you happy. I am going to treat you like nobody has ever treated you before. What’s mine is yours.” the court document stated. She also claimed that the man started talking about getting married, and that he even proposed to her,” police said. The woman claimed that the man even had plans to buy a home for her, police added.

Lorimer, now living in the Dauphin County borough of Millersburg, faces a total of 80 criminal charges, including 27 counts each of felony forgery and misdemeanor theft plus 26 counts of receiving stolen property. Arraigned before District Judge Kirsten Gardner, Lorimer, who waived her preliminary hearing last week, remains free on $25,000 bail.