A sobering reminder: Elderly folks are among the most vulnerable population. Many require devoted advocates — preferably family members — to keep an eye on their well-being.

So it's incredibly sad to hear of things like this happening:

An at-home aide is facing charges after police allege she stole $26,000 from a Bloomfield Township woman she was caring for.

The 91-year-old victim called police in December to report that she saw numerous checks missing. When she looked at her bank account, she saw thousands missing from her account that had been cashed by her aide Bryanna Burton.

It's not hard to see why this would be easy to pull off. An in-home care aide is able to freely roam around her patient's house. It's not difficult to sneak around the house of a 91-year-old who probably isn't incredibly mobile.

So this scumbag "aide" took advantage of the elderly lady she was charged with taking care of. She pilfered some checks and wrote them to herself to the tune of $26K.

Despicable.

After a long investigation, a warrant was issued for Burton, who turned herself in on March 9.

She was arraigned on two counts of using a computer to commit a crime and six counts of identity theft. Her bond was set at $25,000/10%.

Throw the dang book at her!

If you've got elderly family, friends, neighbors — be sure to keep an eye on them. This type of thing is more common than you think.