Miss-Delectable
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A woman who swindled her deaf and blind 80-year-old neighbor out of hundreds of thousands of dollars was sentenced Wednesday to six years in federal prison.
Rebecca Moody used power of attorney to drain Lillian Cossaboom's savings, cash in her stocks, run up credit-card bills and mortgage her paid-off house in New Port Richey.
Cossaboom was "devastated" when she learned of the betrayal, said Cossaboom's friends, Howard and Bernadette Wagar, who said they discovered the theft.
The loss "devastated her self-trust, devastated her trust of others, devastated her judgment of the character of others," said Howard Wagar, who put the total loss at more than $1 million.
In court, Moody, who was convicted of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property, was held responsible for documentable fraud of nearly $600,000, money lost by Cossaboom and her banks.
Bernadette Wagar said Cossaboom was cut off from people during the fraud: Her doorbell was disabled, her phone line was cut and her electric and other bills frequently were not paid.
"She had no contact with the outside world," Bernadette Wagar said.
She said Cossaboom gave Moody power of attorney because she wanted Moody to help consolidate her money, clean up the house and get it ready to sell.
Instead, Moody "left her $30 in two bank accounts."
"What ticked Lillian off was when Becky said, 'I'm buying your food with my own money,' and Lillian's thinking, 'Where's my money?' "
Cossaboom and her late husband had built up a comfortable nest egg, Howard Wagar said. She planned to make a sizable donation to the New England Home for the Deaf, where she now resides. But now it's gone.
Moody, 62, who has several medical problems, is a two-time cancer survivor, and doctors say the disease may have reoccurred in her brain, said her attorney, Todd Foster.
"I love Lillian," Moody said under questioning from U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara. "She was not just like a neighbor to me. She did come to my house every day. She ate dinner with us. I was surprised as anyone when Lillian left. … I treated Lillian nice, and I feel like I did what I was supposed to do."
But the judge was unmoved. Most damning, Lazzara said, was a tape played during the trial of Moody posing as Cossaboom and cashing in her stocks.
"That voice was cold and calculating," the judge said. "For you to sit there and deny criminal responsibility falls on deaf ears."
Lazzara rejected a request from Foster that he impose a sentence of two years of house arrest.
"Such a sentence would certainly not promote respect for the law and would not deter future criminal conduct," the judge said.
Lazzara also rejected Foster's arguments that Cossaboom didn't meet the legal definition of a vulnerable victim.
"If Lillian Cossaboom is not an unusually vulnerable victim, I don't know who is," the judge said.
A woman who swindled her deaf and blind 80-year-old neighbor out of hundreds of thousands of dollars was sentenced Wednesday to six years in federal prison.
Rebecca Moody used power of attorney to drain Lillian Cossaboom's savings, cash in her stocks, run up credit-card bills and mortgage her paid-off house in New Port Richey.
Cossaboom was "devastated" when she learned of the betrayal, said Cossaboom's friends, Howard and Bernadette Wagar, who said they discovered the theft.
The loss "devastated her self-trust, devastated her trust of others, devastated her judgment of the character of others," said Howard Wagar, who put the total loss at more than $1 million.
In court, Moody, who was convicted of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property, was held responsible for documentable fraud of nearly $600,000, money lost by Cossaboom and her banks.
Bernadette Wagar said Cossaboom was cut off from people during the fraud: Her doorbell was disabled, her phone line was cut and her electric and other bills frequently were not paid.
"She had no contact with the outside world," Bernadette Wagar said.
She said Cossaboom gave Moody power of attorney because she wanted Moody to help consolidate her money, clean up the house and get it ready to sell.
Instead, Moody "left her $30 in two bank accounts."
"What ticked Lillian off was when Becky said, 'I'm buying your food with my own money,' and Lillian's thinking, 'Where's my money?' "
Cossaboom and her late husband had built up a comfortable nest egg, Howard Wagar said. She planned to make a sizable donation to the New England Home for the Deaf, where she now resides. But now it's gone.
Moody, 62, who has several medical problems, is a two-time cancer survivor, and doctors say the disease may have reoccurred in her brain, said her attorney, Todd Foster.
"I love Lillian," Moody said under questioning from U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara. "She was not just like a neighbor to me. She did come to my house every day. She ate dinner with us. I was surprised as anyone when Lillian left. … I treated Lillian nice, and I feel like I did what I was supposed to do."
But the judge was unmoved. Most damning, Lazzara said, was a tape played during the trial of Moody posing as Cossaboom and cashing in her stocks.
"That voice was cold and calculating," the judge said. "For you to sit there and deny criminal responsibility falls on deaf ears."
Lazzara rejected a request from Foster that he impose a sentence of two years of house arrest.
"Such a sentence would certainly not promote respect for the law and would not deter future criminal conduct," the judge said.
Lazzara also rejected Foster's arguments that Cossaboom didn't meet the legal definition of a vulnerable victim.
"If Lillian Cossaboom is not an unusually vulnerable victim, I don't know who is," the judge said.