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Background: 41B District Court in Clinton Township, Mich. (Google Maps). Inset: Linda Polk (Macomb County Sheriff’s Office).
A Michigan woman, who had been employed to care for an elderly man, is accused of making the decision to remove him from life support and have his body cremated without notifying his family.
The Macomb County Sheriff’s Office shared in a Facebook post that Linda Polk, age 52, was arrested on April 2. She is alleged to have deceitfully obtained power of attorney over a 78-year-old man, her former charge. When the man became ill and was placed on life support in October 2024, Polk allegedly used her authority to have him removed from life support and swiftly arranged for his cremation.
According to police, Polk never told his family that he died.
According to a police statement, Polk is also accused of creating a fake Quit-Claim deed for the man’s home shortly after his death on Oct. 19, 2024. The sheriff’s office noted that her alleged fraudulent actions began months before the man’s demise. They stated she “embezzled a significant amount of money from the victim and opened and used credit accounts in his name.” An investigation by Clinton Township police into Polk’s purported fraudulent activities is still in progress.
Authorities stated that Polk was originally hired in the spring of 2021 to care for the alleged victim’s wife. By early 2024, the husband fell ill, leading to his hospitalization in October of that year and his eventual death.
Polk now faces eight felony charges — first-degree premeditated homicide, two counts of forgery, embezzlement from a vulnerable adult, three counts of identity theft, and two counts of financial transactions for illegal use. She was placed in custody on April 2, and according to the sheriff’s office, a judge set her bond at $1 million and ordered that she wear a steel cuff tether upon release and turn over her passport.
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