Former caregiver, 19, held in theft of artwork from client, 91

• One way to help prevent the exploitation of elderly loved ones is choosing the right in-home care provider, according to the Area Agency on Aging and Disabilities of Southwest Washington. The agency maintains a list of local in-home care providers, which it screens for compliance with all state laws.

• To find an in-home care provider on the list, call 360-735-5720. The service is free. Another option is searching on care.com, where providers are required to offer clients current background checks on their caregivers.

• AAADSW also recommends reading Hiring & Working Successfully with In-Home Care Providers, available at http://bit.ly/K0sNRk

A Portland couple are accused of stealing Native American artwork worth more than $300,000 from the home of a Vancouver woman where they worked as in-home care providers.

Toakase F. Tovo, 19, and her boyfriend, John L. Kalamafoni, 22, allegedly stole more than 130 pieces of artwork in 2011 and 2012 from 91-year-old Margaret Sotta, who has dementia. They sold the items to collectors and antiques dealers around greater Portland, according to a court affidavit.

Tovo appeared Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree theft, first-degree trafficking in stolen property and two counts of second-degree possession of stolen property. Kalamafoni is still at large, said Vancouver polices spokeswoman Kim Kapp. An arrest warrant was issued for his arrest in August 2013, court records show.

“It’s very painful,” said Sotta’s daughter, Teresa Sotta, on Tuesday. “(My mom) has had dementia for several years, so she is basically at the mercy of her caregivers.”

Judge Robert Lewis held Tovo on $10,000 bail and appointed Vancouver attorney Steven Rucker to defend her against the charges. She is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Jan. 22.

The Sotta children conducted an inventory and found that at least 108 pieces of artwork were missing from the home. The artwork is valued at about $320,000.

“Dad often shared information about his collection … with anyone who would listen,” said Robert Sotta’s son, Thomas Sotta. “He was very proud of his collection and would explain why certain pieces were more valuable than others. These culprits used that information and took advantage of Mom’s dementia to pilfer the most valuable pieces over a few months’ time.”

Teresa Sotta reported the theft to Vancouver police on Oct. 15, 2012. The Sotta children, who suspected someone from Lavinia Tovo’s family was to blame, also hired private investigators to try to find out who stole the artwork.

Investigators found some of the stolen items on an art gallery website, according to the court affidavit. They found a Portland antiques dealer and two Native American art collectors who said they purchased pieces of artwork from people matching the descriptions of Toakase Tovo and her boyfriend, Kalamafoni.

Vancouver police Detective Jane Easter said in the affidavit that she also recovered a stolen statue, which Kalamafoni had sold to downtown Vancouver’s Accent on Antiques and Collectibles, 1911 Main St.

A private investigator and a Portland Police Bureau detective visited the couple’s home in Portland in February 2013 and questioned them about the accusations, according to the affidavit.

During the interview, the couple admitted that they had been stealing artwork from Margaret Sotta’s home since October 2011, the affidavit says.

Lavinia Tovo told The Columbian Tuesday that she didn’t know about the thefts. She said her business is not in operation at this time because of a lack of clients.

The Lavinia’s Home Care website states that the business has been in operation since 1996 and serves Clark County and Oregon’s Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties.

Lavinia’s Home Care is a registered trade name for the company Armani Concrete & Masonry which has an address in Camas. Its business license in Oregon, under a Portland post office box address, has expired and was not renewed.