A Maryland woman says the home health nurse caring for her father, who was battling Parkinson’s disease, arranged to have the deed to his South Carolina house transferred for just $5 shortly before his death.
Nora Rowland said she discovered two devastating pieces of news at once during what she expected to be a simple Father’s Day visit in June 2024: her 75-year-old father, Robert Rowland, had died, and ownership rights to his home had allegedly been signed over, according to WMBF’s report last Thursday.
Robert Rowland, a Conway resident, had been receiving home care visits from nurse Sarah Smalls in March 2024. Within weeks, as his health declined, he was moved into a senior living facility — a decision his daughter says she was never told about.
Nora, who lives in Baltimore, became increasingly worried after communication with her father dropped off sharply, something she said was completely out of character. Concerned, she made the roughly 460-mile trip to South Carolina to check on him in person.
“My dad was always a daddy’s girl type thing, so it was always me and him throughout my whole life,” she told WMBF. “We FaceTimed every week.”
Her concern deepened when she arrived at the house and found herself pressing a Ring doorbell — a device she said her father never would have installed.
Smalls answered the door, Rowland said, and delivered the shocking update that changed the visit instantly.
“This isn’t the way that 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,” Smalls said, according to Rowland.
Rowland then climbed through a window before discovering that the home’s walls had been painted with what she described as a “god-awful highlighter orange” and “random photographs” had been put up.
“Oh my God! Everything is gone! Who the f–k are these people?” she was heard yelling in footage she had recorded.
“Where is all my father’s things?,” Rowland shouted, prompting Smalls to yelp back, “You broke in my freakin’ house.”
“This is my house!” Rowland proclaimed before the confrontation escalated as the nurse hurled expletives.
Court documents have since revealed Smalls had been named power of attorney – weeks after Robert Rowland had moved into the care home.
On April 17, a quitclaim deed transferred the home to Smalls for just five dollars, according to court documents. Bank statements also showed money had been wired to the nurse.
Rowland was arrested on trespassing allegations because of what the property records showed.
“I’m walking out of the house expecting them to come and help, and they put me and my partner in handcuffs immediately,” she said.
“I just kept saying, ‘I don’t know what’s going on; this is my dad’s house. My dad is dead.”
Rowland was charged before they were dismissed, but she remains horrified as to how ownership of the home had been transferred.
“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,” she said.
