By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

HOOVER – A 23-year-old Bessemer woman has been arrested by the Hoover Police Department after she allegedly stole checks from an 87-year-old resident in a Shelby County assisted living home facility.

The Hoover Police Department arrested Michelle Lenese Dudley on Nov. 5 and charged her with one count of second-degree financial exploitation of an elderly person, three counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument and one count of second-degree theft of property.

Police arrested Dudley in Bessemer after an 87-year-old man who resides at the Ridge View at Meadowbrook assisted living facility on Corporate Ridge Road reported his checkbook was stolen in mid-October.

Dudley previously was a caregiver at Ridge View, and police claim she allegedly cashed four stolen checks valued at $2,470 at local Regions Bank branches.

Dudley was booked into the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $75,000 on Nov. 5.