Deputies: Imposter caregiver robs Pasco man in wheelchair

HOLIDAY — Authorities say Darby Simmons walked into a 79-year-old man's house at 9 p.m. Oct. 26 and claimed to be the man's new caregiver. Simmons knows the woman who actually cares for the man, who uses a wheelchair and lives in a community called Lullaby Gardens. The caregiver was not there that night.

Simmons told the man it was time for him to go to bed. The man said he wasn't tired. "Don't give me any lip," said Simmons, 22, as he pushed the man's wheelchair into his bedroom and shut the door, a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report states. When the victim emerged minutes later, Simmons was gone — along with $20 from the man's wallet, the report said. The victim's phone had been put on top of the refrigerator, well out of his reach.

Simmons was arrested Nov. 21 on an unrelated burglary charge. On Saturday, he was charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling in this case. Simmons, of Holiday, is being held at the Pasco jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.