A Virginia home health care aide has been sentenced to pay over $85,000 in restitution for larency of the checks of her employer.
Hellder Wright, 41, appeared in front of a judge in for sentencing on four counts of larceny of checks and one count of felony failure to appear in court on Oct. 24 after pleading guilty to the charges in July.
Wright was terminated from her job as a home health care aide for a physically disabled individual in Leesburg in 2011, after which Wright's employer noticed several checks made out to the defendant appeared to be forged.
A police investigation revealed that Wright had forged more than 100 checks belonging to the victim, causing a loss in excess of $85,000.
"Offenders who prey on the young, elderly or disabled are in a category among themselves in the criminal justice system," said Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman. "It’s our duty, as a community, to care for and protect the vulnerable from people such as this that only seek to exploit them for personal gain."
The victim has urged the court to protect other vulnerable victims by ensuring that Wright be disallowed from working in a health care capacity again.
Wright was sentenced to one year in the Virginia Department of Corrections, which is twice the recommended high end for these offenses according to the Virginia Sentencing Guidelines.
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Wright was further ordered to pay restitution to the victim in this case and over $5,000 in extradition costs to the Commonwealth of Virginia. According to prosecutors, Wright had previously convicted of petit larency of a training center for individuals with intellectual and related disabilities.
