Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Christina Lariviere, who is charged with four counts of forgery for allegedly stealing and altering elderly residents' checks, enters Superior Court Thursday for her bail hearing.

NASHUA – A 35-year-old personal care assistant who has worked at a number of elderly and assisted living residences, from as far away as Tennessee and as close as Salem and Pelham, is facing four counts of felony forgery for allegedly stealing residents’ checks and altering them before depositing them in her own account, according to authorities.

Christina Lariviere, whose last known address is in Penacook, faced Superior Court Judge Charles Temple on Thursday for arraignment and a bail hearing on the four charges, all of which are Class B felonies.

Temple, after hearing from Assistant County Attorney Brett Harpster and defense attorney Amanda Armillay set bail at $5,000 cash or surety, significantly less than Harpster’s recommendation of $25,000 cash or surety, but much more than the personal recognizance, or $100 cash, bail Armillay requested.

Temple told Lariviere he settled on $5,000 bail after taking into account the fact she has two active warrants out for her arrest, and the recent “transient” nature of her “residential circumstances.”

Lariviere’s bail conditions prohibit her from working as a personal care assistant in any capacity, paid or unpaid, and stay at least 100 yards away from Beaver Brook Commons, the Pelham elderly housing complex where she allegedly stole checks belonging to three residents, altered them and deposited them in her own account, according to the charges.

Lariviere must also have no contact with the three alleged victims, two of whom are 78, and the other, 83.

According to Harpster, Pelham police began investigating the matter after officers were notified by the state Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services that at least two elderly residents of Beaver Brook Commons had been victims of financial exploitation.

The alleged victims told police they had written checks for various amounts and put them in the facility’s outgoing mailbox.

But when they reviewed their bank statements, they noticed that the amounts had been altered – such as a $14.95 check becoming a $114.95 check – and then allegedly endorsed by Lariviere for deposit.

Harpster said Lariviere had just pleaded guilty in December to theft of a credit card at a similar housing complex in Salem.

As for the outstanding warrants, one originates from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in connection with the alleged theft of $700 from a Walmart store, and the other is from Lawrence, Massachusetts, for Lariviere’s alleged failure to appear in court in 2016, according to Harpster.

Armillay, the public defender representing Lariviere, told the court that Lariviere was unable to make her initial $500 cash bail, making the state’s request for $25,000 bail “effectively preventive detention.”

Further, Armillay said, Lariviere “denies the conduct alleged here,” and “to say this is a pattern of stealing money from elderly people goes too far.”

Lariviere, according to Armillay, has successfully completed two substance use disorder programs, and has been trying to deal with the open warrants.