Home health aide gets prison for stealing from elderly client

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SCHENECTADY — A former home health aide's request for a sentence reduction in a case where he admitted to taking an 85-year-old man's credit card fell on unsympathetic ears this morning.

Linwood Jones, 50, formerly of Columbia Street, was sentenced to an agreed-upon four to 12 years in state prison after Schenectady County Court Judge Karen Drago rejected Jones' request.

Jones pleaded guilty in September to two counts of second-degree forgery, felonies after facing a 29-count indictment that included charges of identity theft. Jones was initially accused in February of using the elderly man's credit card to make alcohol and car service purchases.

Drago agreed to a deal that was to sentence Jones to two to six years on each count, with the sentences running consecutively, but Jones asked Drago this morning to run the sentences concurrently. When asked for a reason, Jones noted his age and that the longer he is in prison, the harder it would be to get a job when he gets out.

Drago, however, noted a history that included 30 arrests, 17 for felonies, along with seven misdemeanor convictions and one felony conviction. Drago said she was looking for an answer along the lines of mending his ways. She also noted the facts of the crime.

"That you took from someone who was in your care and trusted you is offensive," Drago said.

Jones was also ordered to pay nearly $1,800 in restitution.

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