Inset: Robert Rowland. Background: The South Carolina home that Robert Rowland’s daughter says was signed over to his nurse while he was battling Parkinson’s and a brain injury (Nora Rowland/WMBF).
A woman says her 75-year-old father’s South Carolina home care nurse had the deed to his house signed over to herself for just $5 weeks before he died. Police are reportedly investigating but have yet to make any arrests.
“I went in, and everything was different,” Nora Rowland, daughter of Robert Rowland, told NBC affiliate WMBF about her father’s house in Conway, which was allegedly remodeled by nurse Sarah Smalls just days after he died.
“She had put up random photographs of people I’d never seen before,” Nora Rowland said. “The walls were painted.”
Robert Rowland was reportedly suffering from Parkinson’s disease and a brain injury before he died in June 2024. His daughter believes that Smalls allegedly made money transfers from Robert’s personal account to herself before his death in addition to getting his home signed over to her for $5.
Bank statements viewed by WMBF show transfers from Robert Rowland to Smalls. Local court records also confirm the $5 house transfer, as well as the transfer of Robert’s power of attorney to Smalls in April 2024.
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“It’s so easy for them to get taken advantage of,” Nora Rowland said. “He was a nice man; he would never think that someone could do this to him. I really can’t emphasize enough how many other people could easily get taken advantage of like this.”
Nora Rowland, who lives in Maryland, told WMBF that Smalls was hired through Griswold Home Care in March 2024. Nora began hearing from her father less and less after Smalls was hired, which was unusual for him.
“My dad was always a daddy’s girl type thing, so it was always him and me throughout my whole life,” Nora Rowland said. “We FaceTimed every week.”
On Father’s Day 2024, Nora Rowland grew worried and went to visit her dad with her partner. That’s when Smalls allegedly informed her via a Ring doorbell that Robert Rowland had died — three days earlier, according to Nora.
“She tells me, ‘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,'” Nora Rowland recalled.
When Smalls arrived, she allegedly let Nora Rowland and her partner inside and then called police — claiming the couple had broken in and was trespassing, WMBF reports.
“I’m walking out of the house expecting them to come and help, and they put my partner and me in handcuffs immediately,” Rowland said. “I just kept saying, ‘I don’t know what’s going on; this is my dad’s house. My dad is dead.'”
A neighbor told WMBF that they, too, had grown worried for Robert Rowland.
“[Smalls] was allegedly coming here during the day and taking care of him, and one day she started moving furniture out, and he disappeared,” the neighbor shared. “She was only in here a very short time, and Bob, he was not within his wits at all. You could’ve talked him into just about anything. I even called senior services and asked them to look into it.”
Nora Rowland told WMBF that trespassing charges were filed against her and then later dropped. Conway police have confirmed that they are now investigating Smalls and Nora’s claims.
A representative for Griswold Home Care told WMBF that it had no knowledge of the situation. Smalls told the station to contact her lawyer.
Horry County’s registrar of deeds, Marion Foxworth III, told WMBF that his office does not investigate people’s motives, only whether a deed meets South Carolina’s basic legal requirements.
“If it contains all the correct information to meet the legal standard, then we record it,” Foxworth said. “We don’t check whether what’s in that deed is fair or right.”
The post ‘Your dad died’: Home care nurse answers 75-year-old’s Ring doorbell and informs visiting daughter that her father is dead and he signed over his house for $5, woman says first appeared on Law & Crime.
