ER worker accused of stealing dying man's credit cards
Candice Ferrette • cferrett@lohud.com • March 3, 2010
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VALHALLA — An emergency room worker at Westchester Medical Center has been accused of stealing credit cards from a dying plane crash victim and then going on a high-end spending spree, police said.
The shopping binge, at stores such as Bloomingdale's and Armani Exchange, was paid for with credit cards that belonged to Daniel Bisk, 53, of Pleasantville, police said.
Bisk, a passenger in a small plane that crashed in the woods of Dutchess County, was brought by a medical helicopter to the emergency room Nov. 22. The pilot was killed in the crash and Bisk died of his injuries Dec. 1.
Anthony Vassell, 33, a patient care technician, was arrested Tuesday as he was leaving his job at the medical center, police said, and his girlfriend, Lisa Dacosta, 29, was arrested later in the morning in the Bronx. Both are residents of 140 Elgar Place in the Co-op City section of the Bronx.
"While doctors and other medical personnel were making heroic efforts to keep Mr. Bisk alive, one employee used the tragedy as an opportunity to steal," Public Safety Commissioner George N. Longworth said. "Mr. Vassell's responsibility that night was to help the patient, not help himself to the man's credit cards."
Vassell and Dacosta are accused of using Bisk's credit cards to purchase clothing at Armani Exchange and Bloomingdale's, a laptop at Best Buy, and jewelry, liquor, food and gasoline at other retailers, totaling about $2,000, police said.
The couple were processed at county police headquarters in Hawthorne on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, including grand larceny, identity theft, unlawful possession of personal identification information, forgery and petty larceny.
They were arraigned in White Plains.
Longworth said the November theft was not the first time that Vassell was named in connection with a theft in the emergency room.
Vassell was accused in the theft in October of a credit card from another patient who came to the emergency room, police said.
Westchester Medical Center spokesman David Billig said the hospital had no comment.
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And why wasnt this jackal arrested and fired the first time? hhmmmmm . .. I wonder why?
