Sarah Smalls(J. Reuben Long Detention Center)

In a story that will make your blood boil, a South Carolina family has been living through an absolute nightmare at the hands of a system that appears completely broken.

A 58-year-old caregiver has finally been arrested after police say she took a vulnerable 75-year-old man’s house for five dollars, drained his accounts, and then called the cops on his own daughter when she drove hundreds of miles to find out why her father had gone silent.

Sarah Weaver Smalls was booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on Monday, Sept. 28, on charges of exploitation of a vulnerable adult, breach of trust with fraudulent intent valued at $5,000 or more, and perjury, according to WMBF News.

A judge set bond at $20,000, $20,000, and $5,000. She posted it and walked out of jail on Tuesday afternoon. Her first court date is Dec. 11.

The man she is accused of exploiting was Robert “Bob” Rowland of Conway. He had Parkinson’s and a brain injury. The state had classified him as a vulnerable adult. His friends called him Bob. His daughter, Nora Rowland, called him every week from Maryland.

According to WMBF’s original investigation, it all began in March 2024 when a caregiver named Sarah Smalls was hired through Griswold Home Care to assist Bob. Within weeks, Bob was quietly moved into a senior living facility. By April, Smalls had somehow obtained power of attorney.

Then came the kicker: on April 17, 2024, a quitclaim deed transferred Bob’s $300,000 home directly to Smalls for a paltry FIVE DOLLARS.

And who notarized the deed? None other than a relative of Smalls.

The house is worth an estimated $275,000, according to the arrest warrant reviewed by the Myrtle Beach Sun News. One law office refused to prepare the deed. She got it from another.

Police say that was only the start. Warrants allege Smalls withdrew more than $17,000 in cash and sent money to her Cash App on multiple occasions, including transfers recorded after Bob was already dead. In May, she allegedly swore on federal housing documents to the Housing Authority of Conway that she had no assets, no real estate, and no cash, while sitting on a free house.

When Bob’s daughter, Nora Rowland, stopped hearing from her father after Father’s Day, she knew something was wrong. She drove hundreds of miles from Maryland to South Carolina to check on him, only to find the locks changed and a Ring camera installed at the front door.

When Nora pressed the doorbell, Smalls answered through the speaker to cold-heartedly inform Nora that her dad was dead.

Desperate to get inside her family home, Nora climbed through a window. What did she find? Family photos replaced, walls repainted, and strangers living inside.

Instead of answers, Nora got wrists in handcuffs, the Post and Courier reported.

Smalls called the police, and local law enforcement actually arrested the grieving daughter, charging her with second-degree burglary for entering her own deceased father’s house.

Conway police charged her in connection with entering the home. The charges against the daughter were later dropped. The deed stayed in the caregiver’s name.

As detailed in reporting by CBS News Baltimore, bodycam footage revealed neighbors had been warning authorities for weeks that something suspicious was going on, noting that Bob “could’ve been talked into just about anything”.

It took two long years of fighting before law enforcement finally acted.

Smalls was finally arrested and hit with charges including Breach of Trust, Filing False Information, and Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult.

Her bond was set at a combined $45,000. She posted bond immediately and walked right out of the courtroom, free as a bird until her next court date. Meanwhile, Nora is still forced to fight through civil court just to get the deed back into her family’s name.

WATCH:

The story that captured national attention has taken another dramatic turn. In June 2024, Nora Rowland hadn’t heard from her ailing father, retired architect Robert Rowland, in weeks. When she drove to his South Carolina home, she discovered he had died three days earlier. pic.twitter.com/RApiY7lIYm

— World Memes HQ🇺🇸 🇭🇲🇮🇴🇵🇪🇳🇪🇵🇦🇳🇬🇲🇫 (@WorldMemesHQ) October 1, 2026