A Marion County Woman is alleged to have defrauded an elderly person she had been hired to be a caregiver.

The release below is from the Baxter County Sheriff's Office:

A Yellville woman, 55 year old Laurelye Irene Lunday, has been arrested in connection with an investigation into defrauding an elderly person she had been hired to be a caregiver for.  

On December 29, 2025, the Sheriff's Office received a report that an elderly female dementia victim had been defrauded by a person who had been hired as an in-home caregiver through a Mountain Home business that offered those kinds of services. The suspect was identified as Laurelye Lunday.  The report was made by the victim's family.

During the time that Lunday worked for the victim, she was allowed access to the victim's credit card to make online purchases for the victim, including grocery purchases.  The victim's family discovered that the victim's credit card account had well over $5,000 in charges on it.  During review of the charge history, it was found that Lunday had been making unauthorized purchases on the victim's credit card through her Walmart.com account.  These charges amounted to $6,943.33.  This included multiple orders for food, clothing, and party items that were picked up byLunday. Some online orders had been delivered to Lunday's residence in Yellville as well.  Lunday's employment was subsequently terminated by the business she worked for.  Sheriff's Investigators applied for and obtained a warrant for her arrest.

Laurelye Lunday was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center pursuant to the warrant on February 2, 2026 on charges of:

Theft of Property - Felony
Nonfinancial Identity Fraud - Elderly or Disabled Victim - Felony
Exploiting Endangered or Impaired Person - Felony
Computer Fraud - Felony

She was released from custody after posting $15,000 bond.  She will appear before the Circuit Court to answer on February 23, 2026.