Police allege Sarah Smalls exploited Robert Rowland after gaining power of attorney and control over the 75-year-old man’s finances.

CONWAY, S.C. — A South Carolina caregiver has been charged with exploiting a vulnerable adult, breach of trust and perjury after police accused her of taking control of a 75-year-old man’s finances and obtaining the deed to his home for a stated price of $5 before his death.

Sarah Smalls, 58, was arrested Sept. 28 in a case involving Robert Rowland, a Conway man who died in June 2024. Arrest warrants reported by WMBF say Smalls obtained power of attorney over Rowland, withdrew more than $17,000 in cash, transferred money to her Cash App and acquired the deed to his home. The accusations remain allegations, and the pending criminal charges have not established that Smalls committed the offenses. She posted bond after a hearing and was released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

The warrants place the alleged conduct between March and July 2024, a period that began when Smalls entered Rowland’s life as a caregiver. Rowland’s daughter, Nora Rowland, told WMBF that Smalls had initially been referred to care for her father through Griswold Care Pairing for Myrtle Beach. The company later said Smalls was an independent caregiver on its registry and had passed a required background check. Griswold has also said Robert Rowland was no longer receiving services through the company by the time the power of attorney and property transfer were completed.

Police allege the financial relationship developed quickly. According to the warrants, Smalls became Rowland’s power of attorney and took over his finances during the same general period in which she had known him for only a short time. Authorities accuse her of making cash withdrawals totaling more than $17,000 and moving money from his accounts to herself on multiple occasions. WMBF separately reported reviewing bank records showing transfers between Rowland and Smalls before his death. The criminal case will determine whether prosecutors can prove that the transactions were unlawful rather than authorized financial decisions.

The house is central to both the criminal allegations and a separate civil dispute. Warrants say Smalls obtained the deed to Rowland’s Ackerrose Drive home on April 17, 2024. The recorded transfer listed $5 as consideration. Police allege a member of Smalls’ family notarized the transaction. A probate complaint filed by Nora Rowland identifies the notary as Smalls’ sister. Authorities also allege that one law office declined to provide the deed before Smalls obtained it through another office. Those circumstances are part of the government’s allegations and have not been resolved at trial.

Rowland’s health is also a significant part of the case. His daughter has said he had Parkinson’s disease and a brain injury and has argued that he did not understand the documents he was signing. Police describe him in the charges as a vulnerable adult. That legal characterization is important because one of the criminal counts directly accuses Smalls of exploiting a person who was vulnerable. Nora Rowland is separately challenging the transfer of the home in civil court, meaning the ownership dispute can proceed on a track different from the criminal prosecution.

The case became public after Rowland’s daughter described what happened when she traveled from Maryland to Conway in June 2024. She said communication with her father had declined after Smalls began caring for him. Concerned after she did not hear from him around Father’s Day, she and her partner went to his house. Nora Rowland said she learned through the home’s Ring doorbell system that her father had died three days earlier. The account came from the daughter and has been reported by WMBF and Law&Crime; it is separate from the allegations contained in the arrest warrants.

What followed deepened the dispute. Nora Rowland said she eventually entered the home and found that it no longer looked as she remembered it, with unfamiliar photographs and changes inside the house. Smalls then presented documentation showing the property had been transferred to her, according to news reports. Conway police arrested Nora Rowland on a second-degree burglary charge following the confrontation. Prosecutors later dropped that case. The same police department is now pursuing the criminal allegations against Smalls.

Investigators also accuse Smalls of making false statements on federal housing documents. According to the warrants, she supplied inaccurate information in May 2024 while seeking assistance from the Housing Authority of Conway, allegedly stating that she had no assets, real estate or cash and did not expect to have a job during the following 12 months. That allegation forms the basis for the perjury-related charge. It also gives prosecutors a separate document trail to examine beyond the deed and Rowland’s bank records.

The deed itself highlights a distinction between recording a property transfer and determining whether the transaction was fairly obtained. South Carolina generally requires a deed to contain the property owner’s signature, the signatures of two witnesses and a notarized acknowledgment before it can be recorded. A county recording office does not ordinarily conduct a full investigation into whether the agreement behind a properly presented deed was fair, whether someone exerted improper influence or whether a signer fully understood the transaction. Those disputes can later become matters for courts and law enforcement.

The issue has attracted legislative attention beyond this case. South Carolina Senate Bill 822 would create a specific felony offense for deed theft or title theft. The measure defines title theft to include unlawfully transferring or attempting to transfer an owner’s title or deed without effective consent or with intent to deprive an owner of an interest in real property. The Senate approved the measure and sent it to the House in spring 2026. As of Nov. 10, the Legislature’s records show the bill remains in the House Judiciary Committee. The legislation predates Smalls’ September arrest and should not be read as a response to her case alone.

Griswold Care Pairing for Myrtle Beach has said the allegations are serious and that the safety and dignity of clients are central to its work. The company said Smalls passed the background screening required before her referral and that she was listed on South Carolina’s nurse aide registry without substantiated findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property at the time of its statement. Griswold said Smalls had not been referred to a client through its Myrtle Beach operation since 2024 and that it had made reports to appropriate state organizations after reviewing the later allegations.

Smalls was granted a combined $45,000 cash or surety bond: $20,000 on the vulnerable-adult exploitation charge, $20,000 on the breach-of-trust charge and $5,000 on the perjury charge, according to WMBF. She posted bond and left custody Sept. 29 without responding to questions from a television news crew. WMBF reported that the exploitation and breach-of-trust charges are expected to proceed to Horry County General Sessions Court. Her first appearance was scheduled for Dec. 11. No conviction has been entered, and the civil challenge over the Conway property remains unresolved.

Author note: Last updated Nov. 10, 2026.