Woman accused of using cleaning service to steal from homes

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A woman hired to clean homes is accused of using her position to steal from her employers.

The woman has gone by several names, but appeared before a judge Thursday as Catherine Carpenter on accusations of fraud and grand theft.

An Orange County property manager said he searched HomeAdvisor.com to find a maid to clean a home on Paine Lane.

He said he hired Carpenter through Kelly's Cleaning Service and gave her $85 in cash and the combination to a lock box before he went on vacation.

The owner said that when he returned, the front door was locked and the combination had been changed. When he entered through the side door, he realized that the oven and the dryer, worth more than $800, were missing.

Carpenter also allegedly used the name Ruth to rent out the home and took $1,250 in cash from two unsuspecting victims. Deputies said the victims showed them their lease documents.

The address listed for Kelly's Cleaning Service is the address for Intown Suites, and Carpenter is the only person associated with the business.

Court records showed that Carpenter was arrested less than a year ago by Orlando police for something similar.

According to the records, a couple moving into a Metrowest home hired Carpenter, who said her name was Kelly and that she owned a company called Maids Unlimited. The couple said Carpenter stole hundreds of dollars of jewelry, stole and forged a check and disconnected their surveillance equipment.

During that investigation, police tracked down Carpenter's mother, Ruth, who said Catherine has used the aliases Kelly, Kat, Katie and Kate. She also said her daughter has stolen her identity before to open fraudulent credit card accounts.

Carpenter is being held at the Orange County Jail.

WFTV