The prosecutor said sentence should be a deterrent to people planning similar crimes.
SPRINGFIELD – A prosecutor asked a judge Wednesday to send Rose-Marie Amaker to state prison for four to six years because she stole over $90,000 from a 91-year-old woman for whom she was a home health aide.
The prosecutor said such a sentence would also serve as a deterrent for people who consider stealing from elderly clients.
Amaker pleaded guilty to stealing more than $90,000 – the life savings – of the 91-year-old woman.
This is the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee.
Amaker’s case was one example cited in a recent story by a team from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit newsroom based at Boston University.
The team reported Massachusetts is among a handful of states that do not license or regulate the burgeoning private-pay, home-care industry. She cited increasing cases of theft from elderly clients.
Hampden Superior Court Judge John S. Ferrara sentenced Amaker, 27, of Chicopee, to 2½ years in the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee, with one year to be served.
The rest is suspended for five years, a probationary term during which she must pay back $8,000 a year and use no illegal drugs.
Assistant District Attorney Melissa G. Doran told Ferrara she was not asking that Amaker be made to pay any money back, because the bank involved had returned the money to the woman.
She said the bank has means, such as insurance, to cover such losses. She said she doubted Amaker could pay enough restitution to make a dent in the loss.
Ferrara ordered Amaker to pay $40,000 restitution to the bank over the five years.
Doran said the victim’s nephew, who was her guardian, was contacted by the Peoples Bank in Chicopee in January saying there were suspicious withdrawals and an ATM card had been activated.
She said Amaker had taken the victim to the bank to deposit an $80,000 annuity check and had the victim sign papers. The victim thought she was just signing a deposit slip, but she was in effect authorizing Amaker to use the account.
In a three-month period, through withdrawals as well as purchases on the ATM card Amaker activated, Amaker spent more than $90,000, Doran said.
Store and ATM videos showed Amaker using the card, she said.
Then Amaker called police to report her house was broken into and five televisions were stolen, as well as a new computer and gaming systems. Police responding found items and receipts using money from the victim’s account.
Doran said Amaker’s crime was calculated and took preparation and planning.
She said Amaker’s husband, Richard Sorrell, is charged with the same crime – larceny over $250 from a person over 60 years old or disabled – and his case is pending. Doran said Amaker was clearly the “mastermind” of the crime.
Doran said Amaker took advantage of a 91-year-old woman who needed someone to take care of her.
Defense lawyer Kathleen Cavanaugh Whitley asked for the same jail sentence as Ferrara gave.
She said Amaker’s children, ages 5 and 10, need her. Amaker had a six-year work history with no problems, and has no criminal record, Whitley said.
The reason – but not an excuse–for the crime, was that Amaker and Sorrell were addicted to cocaine and pills at the time, Whitley said.