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Police Say House Mother Stole From Abused Homeless Women

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 26, 2009

Updated: 02/26/2009 03:42 pm

Rosemarie Sherwood

TAMPA - For years, Rosemarie Sherwood acted as a house mother and adviser to abused homeless women, teaching them skills like saving and budgeting money so they could survive on their own.

Through the course of her duties, Sherwood, 65, took small deposits from residents at the Women's Care Center in Bartow, telling them she would hold the cash in an account for them "so they would have a nest egg," Bartow police Sgt. David Wyant said.

Their savings and dreams of independence evaporated today, as police said Sherwood had spent about $18,000 collected from four women at the shelter on gambling trips.

"The sad part is, these women were giving her money in good faith so they could put a down payment on an apartment or on utilities," Wyant said. "Now they have nothing."

Sherwood, whose name also appears as Rose Marie Sherwood in public records, is being held without bail at Polk County Jail on a warrant from New Jersey charging her with violating her parole in that state.

New Jersey Department of Corrections records show Sherwood was paroled in connection with theft charges.

Detectives in Bartow filed charges of felony scheme to defraud and felony grand theft against Sherwood related to the women's center. She likely will face the local charges before being extradited to New Jersey, Wyant said.

This is not Sherwood's first brush with the law in Florida. Corrections records show she served five years in a Florida state prison on fraud and grand theft charges out of Hernando County before being sentenced in 1998 on the New Jersey theft charges.

Mary Smith, the shelter's executive director, said she was unaware of the parole issue when Sherwood was hired as the house mother in 2005.

Smith said Sherwood had not undergone a background check. She said she came to know Sherwood several years ago, when Sherwood had lived at the shelter for about 10 months. Smith and Sherwood are the only staff members at the nonprofit.

Smith was reluctant to discuss Sherwood's arrest. "She was a good house mother. She knew the rules," she said. "She overstepped her boundaries."

The shelter houses about 15 women. "We try to do life skills: get a job, save your money, so you can survive beyond a month," Smith said.

Wyant said the theft came to light after police arrested Sherwood on Feb. 11 on the New Jersey warrant.

"We were asked to pick her up," he said. "The women there were like, 'Hey, what about our money?'"
The women related how they had given Sherwood cash over a year and a half to be kept as savings to help them establish their own lives, Wyant said.

A detective interviewed Sherwood about the money, and she told him she had spent it on gambling trips, Wyant said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at vkalfrin@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7800.

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