A South Carolina caregiver is accused of having her seriously ill 75-year-old patient transfer his home to her, then redecorating the property within days of his death, according to the man’s furious daughter.
Robert Rowland, who had Parkinson’s disease and a brain injury, died June 25, 2024, in Conway, roughly 15 miles from Myrtle Beach, his daughter, Nora Rowland, told WMBF.
Nora said she did not learn her father had died until three days later, when she arrived at his home and found it had been transformed by his at-home nurse, Sarah Smalls, including walls painted what she described as “highlighter orange.”
“I go in there, and I see everything is different. She had put up all these random photographs of people I’d never seen before. The walls are painted this god-awful highlighter orange,” Nora recalled.
Nora, who lives in Baltimore, Maryland, said she decided to travel to Conway to check on her elderly father after he failed to contact her on Father’s Day.
When she arrived, she immediately noticed changes outside the property, including a newly installed Ring doorbell camera and a different front door.
After Nora rang the bell, she said Smalls came to the door and broke the devastating news.
“She tells me, ‘This isn’t the way I wanted to tell you, but your dad died, and there’s a bunch of other stuff I have to tell you too. Just wait there,’” Nora recalled.
Robert Rowland, of Conway, South Carolina, died on June 25, 2024. He was in a senior living facility at the time and had already signed the property over to his at-home nurse, Sarah Smalls
Nora Rowland, Robert’s daughter, claims that her father was not in his right mind when he signed the home over to his nurse. She said he suffered from Parkinson’s and a brain bleed. (Pictured: Nora and Robert in an undated image)
But the shocking news left the self-described ‘daddy’s girl’ panicked as she made her way into the home through an unlocked window that she knew was open in case of emergencies.
After entering, Nora was immediately confronted with a completely unfamiliar space.
Footage she captured from inside the home showed the bright orange walls with pictures of another family hanging on them.
She screamed from behind the camera as she recorded, saying: ‘Oh my God! Everything is gone! Who the f*** are these people?!’
Soon after, she made her way into the home; Smalls returned, accused Nora of breaking into her property, and called the police to report that she was trespassing.
When officers arrived, Nora was under the impression that they would assist her, but instead, she and her partner were placed in handcuffs after Smalls showed police a deed that showed the home was in her name.
‘I’m walking out of the house expecting them to come and help, and they put me and my partner in handcuffs immediately.
‘I just kept saying, “I don’t know what’s going on; this is my dad’s house. My dad is dead”,’ Nora stated.
Smalls (pictured) started taking care of Robert in March 2024 through a company called Griswold Home Care
Police bodycam footage obtained by the local outlet also showed a male neighbor telling police he had been worried about what he’d been seeing next door.
‘She [Smalls] was allegedly coming here during the day and taking care of him, and one day she started moving furniture out, and he disappeared,’ he recalled.
The neighbor also claimed that Robert was not in his right mind.
‘She was only in here a very short time, and Bob, he was not within his wits at all. You could’ve talked him into just about anything. I even called senior services and asked them to look into it,’ he added.
Court documents also obtained by WMBF showed that Robert changed his personal affairs just months before his death, and according to Nora, she had no idea.
Smalls started taking care of Robert in March 2024 through a company called Griswold Home Care.
At the end of that month, Robert moved into a senior living facility, the outlet reported.
Then in April of that year, legal papers named Smalls as his power of attorney. By April 17, a quitclaim deed, or a legal document that transfers real estate interest from one person to another, was put through.
Because of that, the home was given to Smalls for a five-dollar fee, the report stated.
In April 2024, legal papers named Smalls as his power of attorney. By April 17, a quitclaim deed, or a legal document that transfers real estate interest from one person to another, was put through for just a five-dollar fee
The criminal trespassing charges against Nora have since been dismissed, but she said she has not stopped fighting to take her father’s home from the nurse.
She believes her father was not at all aware of what he was signing away.
‘It’s so easy for them to get taken advantage of. He was a nice man; he would never think that someone could do this to him. I really can’t emphasize enough how many other people could easily get taken advantage of like this,’ Nora said.
The Conway Police Department told the outlet the agency is investigating the case.
Meanwhile, Horry County’s Registrar of Deeds Marion Foxworth III said that his office does not probe people’s motives, and only looks to see if the deed meets the state’s legal requirements.
‘If it contains all the correct information to meet the legal standard, then we record it. We don’t check whether what’s in that deed is fair or right,’ he shared.
Our News Outlet approached Nora, Smalls, the Conway Police Department, Griswold Home Care, and Foxworth for comment.
