A home health care aide and her partner are accused of stealing an elderly woman’s credit card information in order to buy online subscriptions, gambling bets, gas, social media followers and more.
Grace Mercer, 24, of Philadelphia, and Mohammad Teye, 26, of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, are both charged with forgery, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and other related offenses.
The investigation began on Thursday, May 22, 2025, when a woman went to the Upper Dublin Police Department to report suspected credit card fraud committed against her 81-year-old mother.
The woman said she noticed fraudulent charges on three of her mother’s credit cards.
The charges included more than $1200 in payments for social media followers, gas, Apple, FanDuel, Roku, Hulu, and Uber, investigators said.
More than two months later, on July 30, 2025, the woman reported to police more fraudulent charges on a fourth credit card belonging to her mother.
Investigators executed search warrants on the companies connected to the charges as well as Comcast to identify the IP addresses associated with some of the purchases.
The woman also revealed to police that she had hired three home health care aides who worked for her mother between April 18, 2025, and May 20, 2025.
Investigators traced some of the credit card purchases to one of those aides, Grace Mercer, as well as Mercer’s partner Mohammad Teye, according to the criminal complaint. Both Mercer and Teye lived at the same address in Philadelphia that matched the shipping information for some of the orders made, investigators said.
After speaking with the 81-year-old woman, police looked through surveillance video at the Exxon Gas Station on North 63rd Street in Philadelphia where someone tried to use the victim’s credit card information to buy gas. The video showed a blue Dodge Charger as well as the driver who they ultimately identified as Teye, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators also connected one of the cards used to an address in Upper Darby that belonged to both Teye and Mercer, officials said.
Mercer turned herself in over the weekend and was later released on a signature bond. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 9, 2026.
Teye has also been charged but has not yet appeared in court.
Online court records don’t list legal representation who could speak on behalf of the two suspects.
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