Woman Charged with Stealing from Boyfriend's Grandmother

A 23-year-old woman is behind bars for allegedly using nearly three dozen Western Union transfers to drain her boyfriend's grandmother's bank account of more than $8,000.

Ashley Nicole O'Conner, who had shared a residence with the alleged victim on the 2000 block of Brown Avenue in Bensalem, was arrested on Monday and charged with four felonies in conjunction with allegedly stealing $8,445 from the Citizens Bank account of her boyfriend's grandmother, according to court documents. 

On Sept. 16 the 71-year-old victim filed a theft report with Bensalem Police, as well as the U.S. Secret Service, stating that O'Conner had stolen $9,000 from her account. 

According to police, a U.S. Secret Service agent told authorities on Oct. 14 that the agent has received a suspicious activity report from Western Union for 34 suspicious money transfers from the victim's account between Aug. 15, 2012 and Oct. 26, 2012 totaling $7,545. Of those, 32 were made payable to O'Conner, according to court documents and the remaining two were made payable to her friends, but paid to O'Conner. 

A Citizens Bank investigator told police that the victim had filed a fraud report with the bank related to her missing checkbook and several of her checks being cashed by O'Conner, according to court records. The amount of the checks O'Conner allegedly cashed totaled $900, according to documents. 

Because of the alleged thefts, the victim told police she's three months behind on her rent and being evicted from her apartment. 

O'Conner, who had been free on bail from drug-related charges filed in June, according to court records, was remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of $70,000 bail related to the forgery and theft charges. She awaits a preliminary hearing in district court next week.