A caretaker is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a 75-year-old North Miami Beach woman.

North Miami Beach police said Olga Hidalgo-Gato, 46, of Hollywood, was hired to help a 75-year-old woman who lives on monthly Social Security payments with daily activities, such as grocery shopping, paying bills and filling prescriptions.

According to police, between October 2010 and July 2011, Hidalgo-Gato wrote herself checks from the woman's account and withdrew up to $500 per day from the woman's accounts. She stole a total of $35,000, police said.

The woman asked her son for help when some of her checks bounced and she began to suspect Hidalgo-Gato was stealing from her, North Miami Beach police said. The woman's son noticed on his mother's bank records that some of the withdrawals were taken at casinos, which his mother did not visit, investigators said.

The son called police. When a detective confronted Hidalgo-Gato, she denied taking any money and said any withdrawals she took were for legitimate reasons, North Miami Beach police said.

Police said Hidalgo-Gato was seen on surveillance video at various locations, withdrawing the woman's money without the woman present.

The stolen money came from the woman's life savings, her monthly Social Security payments and funds from a reverse mortgage, investigators said. The woman could now lose her home.

Hidalgo-Gato was arrested Thursday on charges of grand theft on a victim over age 65 and exploitation of the elderly, both second-degree felonies.