Federal authorities have arrested a 22-year-old babysitter accused of stealing $85,000 from a couple whose children she was caring for.
Ashley Rose, of Guilford, was arrested on Monday on a federal criminal complaint charging her with bank fraud.
Federal officials said Rose stole more than 250 checks between April 2011 and April 2012 from a married New Haven couple who employed her as a babysitter in their home for their two young children.
Rose is accused of forging the signature of one of her employers, making the checks payable in various amounts to herself, depositing them into her own bank account and making more than $80,000 ATM cash withdrawals from her account.
According to the criminal complaint, the couple kept their checkbook on a shelf and would write Rose's paychecks in her presence each week. It was only when they were preparing their tax returns that they learned that a large number of checks was missing.
When an investigator told Rose how much she was suspected of stealing, she responded, "It's not that much," the criminal complaint says.
Rose was later alerted that she was the target of a bank fraud investigation and advised to have an attorney contact the U.S. Attorney's Office, but she never did, according to the complaint.
Rose appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons in Bridgeport and was released on bond late Monday afternoon.
The United States Secret Service is investigating and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kerry L. Quinn is the prosecutor.
