Jane Hall, 63, was given a three-year continuation without a finding of guilt.
She paid $15,000 to the court on Wednesday and was ordered to pay the rest in large installments, according to Bristol County DA spokesman Gregg Miliote.
Miliote said Judge Michael Brennan imposed the “unagreed” plea-bargain sentence — meaning that both the defense and prosecution suggests a punishment to the judge, who in turn decides what is most appropriate.
Miliote said the commonwealth requested a guilty finding with three years’ probation and $50,000 in restitution.
Hall was arraigned in August 2016 for allegedly stealing a total of $83,341 from her elderly mother from 2012 through 2015.
Prosecutors said Hall engaged in 66 online transactions transferring more than $78,000 from her mother’s Raynham bank account into her own savings and checking accounts.
Hall was also accused of forging her mother’s signature to two checks totaling $5,000.
The case first came to the attention of Raynham detectives when Hall’s sister told them that her mother became aware of the online transactions during a bank visit in October 2015.
The sister, who lives in Narragansett, said Hall became administrator of their late father’s estate after he died years before and that she also had power of attorney over her mother’s financial and legal decisions.
Her sister said Hall at the time was handling her mother’s day-to-day finances and expenses.
She also alleges that Hall at first denied stealing from their mother.
Hall, she said, suggested that their mother had become too old to keep track of her own finances. The sister, however, told police that although her mother requires daily assistance in terms of physical needs, her mind is still sharp.
Police say during a phone interview with the victim she told them that Hall claimed she had borrowed the cash to pay off medical expenses incurred during the time her late husband had been hospitalized.
The older woman told police she was surprised, because Hall had collected a $250,000 settlement after her husband died.
She also, police said, indicated to them that Hall had paid $20,000 in cash for a vehicle and had made home improvements, installing a new outside deck and new hardwood floors.
The victim’s lawyer at the time, Andrew Toldo, according to police, was for a time stonewalled by Hall in reaching a civil agreement.
Toldo, in speaking to an assistant district attorney, described Hall’s demeanor as patently “disrespectful, aggressive and rude,” police said.
Bristol County DA Thomas Quinn said at the time of the arraignment the problem of financial elder abuse is “rampant.”
“Money may not be the root of all evil, but it’s the root of a lot of evil,” he said.
