Wallace will pay $50,000 back to the victim's family and a $10,000 fine, and will lose her municipal pension.
Bridget Wallace in Hampden Superior Court Friday awaiting sentencingSPRINGFIELD – Bridget Wallace, the former coordinator of social services at the Wilbraham Senior Center, will now have a criminal record and because of that will lose her municipal retirement, her lawyer said.
Wallace, 64, was sentenced Friday to five years probation by Hampden Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis, who denied a request by the defense to continue the case without a finding in order for Wallace to keep her pension.
Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Wallace, of Wilbraham, had brought the loss of her retirement and the loss of her job upon herself, and must be punished for the severity of the crime of taking money from an elderly client of the center by a fine of $10,000.
Defense lawyer Michael O. Jennings said, “the biggest punishment has been walking into this courtroom, admitting guilt to it, being on the front page of the newspaper and having to do all that not only in front of her community but in front of her family.”
“I have given this case considerable amount of thought, deep thought,” Velis said. He said Wallace victimized an “elderly, vulnerable” man.
Wallace had agreed to immediately pay back $50,000 she admitted to taking improperly from the elderly client. The $10,000 fine is in addition to the repayment.
Wallace pleaded guilty earlier in the week to larceny by scheme of a person over the age of 60 and attempt to commit a crime.
The defense wanted no guilty finding to enter, and the prosecution wanted the guilty pleas recorded and for Wallace to complete five years of probation in addition to the repayment and fine.
“In good conscience I feel that the district attorney request is firmly rooted in justice,” Velis said.
After Velis said he would enter the guilty pleas, Jennings said since now Wallace would not get her pension, “I am hoping that the court will reconsider that fine.”
Mastroianni told Velis his office did not make the decision lightly to not ask for incarceration. He has said the family of the victim agreed to the prosecution’s recommendation.
He said “there needs to be some type of punishment for this individual” and the fine addresses that. “The collateral consequences of this plea are consequences that we believe were brought upon by the defendant herself.”
He said loss of her pension and her job “were caused in a sanction that she put upon herself when she committed this act. The fine is punishment by the court.”
Velis said probation can set Wallace up on a payment plan for the $10,000 fine.
Wallace admitted that she took the money over the course of a year from a man who went to the senior center in 2006 looking for help.
Lawyers said Wallace and the man became friends, and the evidence documented some 100 bank transactions.
The man is now 94 and lives in a senior community.
The prosecution dropped 14 counts against Wallace as part of the plea deal, according to assistant district attorney James M. Forsyth. The larceny by scheme charge covers Wallace’s multiple action during a year’s period ending in July 2007.
Wallace took the victim to a bank, where he would withdraw money and give it to her, Forsyth told the court.
“He suffers from dementia and memory issues,” he said.
Wallace also had the victim use her name, instead of his son’s name, to inherit some stock upon his death, action which has since been reversed, according to Forsyth.