Nora Rowland says she arrived at her father’s Conway home unaware he had died or that its deed had changed hands.
CONWAY, S.C. — When Nora Rowland traveled from Maryland to check on her 75-year-old father in June 2024, she expected to find out why he had stopped communicating with her. Instead, she says she learned through his Ring doorbell that he had died three days earlier and soon discovered his house was no longer in his name.
More than two years later, that unsettling visit has become part of a criminal case against Sarah Smalls, 58, the caregiver who had worked with Robert Rowland. Conway police arrested Smalls Sept. 28 and charged her with exploitation of a vulnerable adult, breach of trust with fraudulent intent involving at least $5,000 and perjury. Warrants accuse her of using a position of trust to gain control of Rowland’s finances, withdraw more than $17,000 and obtain the deed to his Conway house. Smalls has not been convicted, and the allegations remain to be proved in court.
For Nora Rowland, the case began not with bank statements or legal filings but with a change in a familiar routine. She told WMBF that she and her father had regularly communicated by video call. After Smalls entered his life in March 2024, Rowland said those contacts became less frequent. Her father had Parkinson’s disease and a brain injury, according to his daughter. By Father’s Day weekend that June, the lack of communication worried her enough that she and her partner drove to South Carolina to see him in person.
Rowland said no one had told her before that trip that her father was dead. She has described approaching the house and communicating through its Ring doorbell, where Smalls informed her of his death and told her there were additional matters to discuss. Robert Rowland had died three days earlier, according to his daughter’s account. That episode became one of the most widely reported details of the case, but the later criminal charges focus primarily on the financial dealings, property transfer and documents police say were executed during the last months of his life.
The daughter said another surprise came when she learned Smalls claimed ownership of the house. Public records reported by WMBF showed a quitclaim deed dated April 17, 2024, transferring Rowland’s Conway property to Smalls for stated consideration of $5. Nora Rowland has disputed whether her father understood what he was signing. Authorities have now gone further, alleging in arrest warrants that Smalls exploited a vulnerable man to obtain the property. The validity and ownership consequences of the deed are also being contested in a separate civil proceeding.
The confrontation at the house initially produced a very different criminal case. Nora Rowland said Smalls allowed her and her partner into the residence and then called police, accusing them of being there unlawfully. Conway officers took Rowland into custody on a second-degree burglary charge. Prosecutors later dropped the case against her. The sequence has become significant because Conway police, the department that arrested Rowland in 2024, is now the agency accusing Smalls of wrongdoing connected with the same home and Rowland’s late father.
Rowland also said the interior of her father’s home appeared to have been changed. She described unfamiliar photographs and newly altered rooms. Those observations do not by themselves establish a crime, but they helped drive her effort to understand what had happened during the weeks before her father’s death. She began challenging the deed and questioning financial transactions involving Smalls. WMBF later reviewed records that it said documented transfers of money between Robert Rowland and Smalls. The daughter also pursued records through the civil process while seeking a law-enforcement investigation.
The arrest warrants now give a more detailed account of what police believe happened. Authorities allege Smalls obtained power of attorney over Robert Rowland and assumed control of his financial affairs from March through July 2024. They accuse her of withdrawing more than $17,000 in cash and sending money to her own Cash App on multiple occasions. The warrants also allege she secured Rowland’s deed only about a month after entering his life as a caregiver and had a relative notarize the document. A probate complaint identifies that relative as Smalls’ sister.
Police further allege that Smalls first sought the deed through one law office and was turned away before obtaining it from another. That assertion could become important as prosecutors attempt to show intent and explain how the transfer occurred. Still, the existence of an unusual transaction or a very small stated purchase price does not by itself determine criminal liability. Prosecutors must prove the elements of the charged offenses, while the defense will have an opportunity to challenge the government’s evidence and present Smalls’ account in court.
A separate allegation concerns housing documents completed in May 2024. Police say Smalls provided false information on federal paperwork to receive assistance from the Housing Authority of Conway, including statements about her assets, real estate, cash and expected employment. Authorities included that conduct in the case supporting the perjury charge. The housing-document allegation gives investigators a second set of records that can be compared with the timing of the deed transfer and the financial activity involving Rowland’s accounts.
Smalls’ relationship with Rowland had begun through Griswold Care Pairing for Myrtle Beach, according to Rowland’s daughter and the company. Griswold has described Smalls as an independent caregiver who was on its registry and passed the background screening required before her referral. The company said the referral lasted only a brief period and that Rowland was no longer receiving Griswold services when the power-of-attorney and deed transactions occurred. It has said it does not condone exploitation or improper financial relationships between caregivers and clients.
Griswold also said that, based on its records, Smalls was listed on South Carolina’s nurse aide registry without substantiated findings of abuse, neglect or property misappropriation. The company said it launched an internal review after learning of the later allegations, made reports to appropriate state organizations and would cooperate with law enforcement or regulatory inquiries. Those statements provide context about Smalls’ referral but do not resolve whether she later committed any of the offenses alleged by Conway police.
Rowland has said her concerns extend beyond the ownership of the house. She has publicly questioned the condition in which her father died and said medical records described him as severely underweight. She has expressed hope that authorities will examine whether additional conduct should result in charges. Police have not announced additional charges related to his medical care or death. No public finding reviewed for this report establishes that Smalls caused Rowland’s death or criminally neglected him, and those allegations should not be treated as proven facts.
The daughter’s efforts unfolded slowly. WMBF reported that the matter was initially reported to Horry County police before authorities determined that the relevant events fell within Conway city limits. The case was referred to Conway police in July 2026, and a detective’s report was entered the following month. Police have said their investigation did not begin because of news coverage, while Nora Rowland has argued that the case gained momentum only after reporters began asking questions. The department has declined to discuss many details because the investigation remains active.
Smalls was jailed after her September arrest and later received bonds totaling $45,000 across the three charges. She posted bond and was released the next afternoon. A WMBF crew approached her as she left the detention center, but she did not provide a comment. Earlier, when questioned about the disputed deed and power of attorney, she had directed reporters to contact her attorney without providing contact information, according to WMBF.
The daughter’s fight is therefore continuing on two legal tracks. Prosecutors must decide how to pursue the criminal charges accusing Smalls of exploiting a vulnerable adult and mishandling money and documents, while Nora Rowland continues a civil challenge over the deed to her father’s home. WMBF reported that Smalls’ first appearance was set for Dec. 11 and that the exploitation and breach-of-trust counts would proceed to General Sessions Court. Until a court resolves those matters, the allegations against Smalls remain accusations rather than findings of guilt.
Author note: Last updated Nov. 10, 2026.