A husband and wife from Prattville were arrested Monday in Selma for taking advantage of an elderly woman.

Robert Lee Shields, 43, was arrested and charged with first-degree financial exploitation of an elderly person and two counts of second-degree theft of property. Tina Shields, 36, was arrested and charged with second-degree financial exploitation of an elderly person and two counts of second-degree theft of property.

According to a press release from Sgt. Evelyn Ghant with the Selma Police Department, the couple stole more than $4,000 from an 80-year-old Prattville woman.

The couple allegedly stole multiple checks from the 80-year-old’s residence and cashed them at a bank on the 100 block of Broad Street in Selma.

Ghant said the check thefts happened over an undisclosed period of time, and the Shields were acquaintances with the woman.

“We have a lot of people that do scams here, and basically they are trying to get the senior citizens,” Ghant said. “That is why we go out and talk to organizations in Selma to try to prevent someone that is close to [a senior citizen] from getting personal information. We encourage them to not leave their social security card, bank information and things like that laying around.”

According to Ghant, the woman notified the Selma Police Department’s Fraud Unit about the missing checks that were cashed in Selma, and they were able to arrest Robert Shields on a probable cause warrant in Autauga County.

After transporting Robert Shields back to Selma and interviewing him, his wife, Tina, turned herself in to the SPD and was interviewed by investigators.

“Our fraud unit was talking to Mr. Shields, so she turned herself in,” Ghant said.

They were both arrested, charged and booked into the Dallas County Jail on bonds of $60,000 for Roberts Shields and $45,000 for Tina Shields.

According to Ghant, both made bond Monday.