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| Sheila Grochowski, 70, of Winsted, faces a charge of first-degree larceny and 19 counts of second-degree forgery for allegedly embezzling $851,000 from elderly and disabled people under the control of probate courts. (Avon Police / HANDOUT) |
A
72-year-old Winsted woman who stole more than $850,000 from people with
physical and mental disabilities pleaded guilty Thursday and faces up
to seven years in prison.
Sheila
Grochowski was arrested by Avon police and the chief state’s attorney’s
office in November 2017 on more than a dozen larceny and forgery
charges and had previously turned down a plea offer. But with her case
called in for trial and jury selection scheduled to begin Thursday, she
asked if the state’s plea offer was still available and accepted it,
pleading guilty to a single count of first-degree larceny and two counts
of second-degree forgery.
She
is scheduled to be sentenced April 29 to 10 years in prison, suspended
after she serves seven years, plus five years of probation. Her lawyer,
public defender John Stawicki, will be able to argue for less prison
time and probation.
Grochowski
was a bookkeeper and secretary for Barbara H. Hance Associates, a
Farmington company that handles the financial affairs of people whose
affairs are controlled by probate courts.
Prosecutor
Christopher A. Alexy told Hartford Superior Court Judge Laura F.
Baldini that Grochowski wrote 437 checks to herself from the accounts of
Hance clients. The state had video obtained from Grochowski’s bank
showing her depositing two of the stolen checks, and bank records from
her bank and those of her victims showing the extent of her thievery.
Grochowski
pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine, meaning she disputed some of
the state’s evidence, but acknowledged the state had enough evidence to
convict her at trial.
According
to the warrant for Grochowski’s arrest, Grochowski forged Hance’s
signature on 591 checks and two withdrawal slips and stole $851,811
between January 2010 and May 2016, when Hance fired Grochowski.
Authorities
do not know where the money went, but when confronted by Hance in early
2015 about the embezzlement of $4,829, Grochowski admitted the forgery
and said she needed the money for medical expenses, according to the
warrant. After that incident, Hance kept Grochowski as an employee, set
up a repayment plan and did not notify police.
In
May 2016 more problems with checks were found, and Hance determined
that Grochowski’s alleged thefts were more extensive. A forensic audit
by an accounting firm, and a review of thousands of pages of
Grochowski’s bank records by Avon Det. Edward Espinoza and state
Inspector Jack Bannan revealed the massive scale of Grochowski’s thefts.
The
investigators identified 25 people they say were victimized by
Grochowski, including her own father who suffered from Alzheimer’s
disease and was under a conservatorship. Grochowski allegedly wrote
herself checks from her father’s accounts and listed herself as executor
of his estate, although he was still alive at the time.
The
investigators also found that it wasn’t the first time Grochowski has
stolen. In 1988 Grochowski was charged by Torrington police with
first-degree larceny, second-degree larceny and third-degree forgery.
She was convicted in November 1989 and sentenced to five years in
prison.
Full Article & Source:
Winsted woman pleads guilty to stealing $850,000 from physically, mentally disabled people in conservatorships
See Also:
Woman Accused Of Stealing $851,000 From Elderly, Disabled
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