Woman accused of stealing from mother to support drug habit

RACINE (WITI) -- A 47-year-old Racine woman is accused of stealing more than $22,000 from her mother -- allegedly to fuel her drug habit.

Debra Cano faces one count of theft of a business setting over $10,000.

Cano is accused of stealing from her mother -- a resident at St. Monica's Nursing Home at N. Green Bay Road in the Village of Caledonia.

A criminal complaint in the case says Cano's mother told officials her daughter was taking her money -- saying the money was taken from her Chase Bank account without her consent.

The complaint says Cano's mother told officials she had a medical procedure in February of 2011, and gave Cano permission to take care of financial payments while she was recovering from surgery -- but says she never gave Cano permission to be her payee, change the billing address of her account or take money out of her accounts without consent.

Documents from Chase Bank show that in February of 2011, Cano added her name as a payee on her mother's checking account, and change the billing address to her home address.

A spreadsheet was complied from Cano's mother's bank account, and she indicated there were 240 unauthorized transactions totaling $22,355.71, occurring between February of 2011 and June of 2013, according to the complaint.

The complaint says Cano was interviewed, and admitted to using her mother's debit card without her consent, saying she was addicted to cocaine, and had often used her mother's card for ATM withdrawals to buy drugs.

The complaint says Cano told officials some of the transactions were for her mother, but most were for her own personal use.