LaClaire sentenced for thefts, but prison time already served

BRATTLEBORO --A former caretaker at a Brattleboro care home was sentenced to prison time on Friday for stealing thousands of dollars from an elderly resident's credit-card account. 


Jodi LaClaire, 39, of Bennington, N.H., received a mostly suspended jail sentence in favor of probation. And, because she had been charged and later acquitted of murdering the same resident, LaClaire already has served all or most of the two years of mandatory jail time ordered by Judge David Suntag for the thefts.

The sentence disappointed the family of the 83-year-old victim, Nita Lowery. But Suntag said he could not -- in spite of continuing argument to the contrary from prosecutors -- consider evidence of Lowery's death when sentencing LaClaire for financial exploitation.

"I don't believe the evidence in this case, frankly, established ... that Ms. LaClaire was criminally responsible for the death of Ms. Lowery," Suntag said.

Jurors who heard LaClaire's case in September agreed with that assessment, acquitting her of second-degree murder and abuse of a vulnerable adult in connection with Lowery's death on April 1, 2009.

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LaClaire sentenced for thefts, but prison time already served