Housekeeper Facing Charges for Allegedly Assaulting 83-Year-Old Employer Who Denied Her a $500 Christmas Bonus

A housekeeper has been charged for allegedly assaulting an elderly woman at her home in Florida, authorities said. 

Heather Nelson “physically assaulted and robbed” her 83-year-old employer after she was denied a $500 Christmas bonus she requested for cleaning the woman’s house on Dec. 24, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.

After the victim said she didn’t have enough money to provide a bonus, Nelson, 29, “responded by physically wrenching the victim’s checkbook from her hand, stealing a check from the checkbook … almost breaking the wrist of the elderly victim,” police said.

Nelson then proceeded to write herself a stolen check for $1,400 and stole the victim’s credit card to pay her rent and make several other purchases that were later discovered by authorities, according to the release. 

Police arrested Nelson on Jan. 7, per jail records seen by PEOPLE. She has since been released. It is not immediately clear if she has legal representation to comment on her behalf.

Nelson now faces numerous charges, police said, including robbery, aggravated battery on a person over the age of 65, grand theft, forgery, uttering a forged instrument, criminal use of personal identification and fraudulent use of a credit card.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Tod Goodyear, a public information officer with the sheriff’s office, told Fox 35 Orlando, “Based on what she was using the monies for, she was in financial trouble.”

He added, “Maybe she just saw this as the only way possibly out of it, but to take advantage of our elderly seniors is not what you do.”

“The elderly are scammed, they are taken advantage of by other people a lot of times because they have some diminished capacity, or they’re very trusting,” Goodyear also told Fox 35 Orlando. “They grew up in a time when people trusted each other.”