A Williamsburg home healthcare worker who was found guilty of racking up more than $2,400 in charges with an Alzheimer’s patient’s credit card was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday, with all five years suspended.
Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Judge Michael McGinty told 47-year-old Jacqueline Marie Jones during her sentencing that although she had admitted to the felony charge of credit card fraud and had apologized in the pre-sentence report, he did not think she was “accepting responsibility.”
“You’ve rationalized a little bit,” McGinty said.
Jones was arrested Oct. 2 after she allegedly used the Alzheimer’s patient’s credit card between Sept. 1 and 15 to make nine unauthorized transactions to Dominion Power, Cox Communications and another company that appeared as “Property Payment Rent,” according to card statements.
She also attempted to open a Discover card in the 69-year-old patient’s name, giving her own cell phone number and email address as the contact information.
Jones said she did not tell the patient’s daughter — who has power of attorney and was paying the patient’s bills — that she was opening a Discover card for the patient.
The daughter noticed the suspicious charges on the credit card and reported them to police.
During her sentencing, Jones, a longtime caretaker, said she told the patient she needed help paying her own bills, and the patient offered to help her.
Williamsburg-James City County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joshua DeFord told the court Jones wrote in the pre-sentence report that being honest had earned her a felony conviction.
Jones entered a guilty plea in March in which one felony count of fraud and one misdemeanor count of attempting to commit identity fraud were dropped.
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