Add The New York Post on Google A Maryland daughter has claimed that the nurse who provided home care to her father battling Parkinson’s transferred the deed to his South Carolina property for just $5 before he died.
Nora Rowland not only learned that the property rights to her 75-year-old father Robert Rowland’s home had been transferred, but also that he had died when she paid what she thought would’ve just been a routine visit on Father’s Day in June 2024, WMBF reported last Thursday.
Robert Rowland, who lived in Conway, received visits from his nurse Sarah Smalls in March 2024 before he was moved into a senior living facility weeks later due to his ailing health — unbeknownst to his daughter.
Nora Rowland, who lives in Baltimore, Md., became alarmed that their contact dramatically reduced over time, which was uncharacteristic, so she traveled around 460 miles to visit him.
“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.”
Rowland’s suspicions increased when she had to press a Ring doorbell – a device she knew her father didn’t install.
She was met by Smalls, who then stunned her with the tragic news.
“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.
