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« Update: Oldest retired officer, 105, laid to rest / Photo | Today | Dr. Moon's killer gets maximum prison sentence » December 13, 2006Warren man accused of bilking ex-neighbor pleads outPROVIDENCE -- Thomas G. Foster, a Warren machinist accused of bilking a mentally impaired elderly neighbor out of $410,000, pleaded no contest today to one count of felony larceny and was spared a prison term as part of a plea deal in which he made $200,000 in restitution. The victim, Leger R. Morrison, 84, is a retired professor who taught secretarial studies and education courses at Bryant College for 32 years. He suffers from dementia and is living with around-the-clock caregivers in his 88-year-old sister's home in Warren. According to the prosecution, Morrison wrote out three checks to Foster, his former neighbor, between October 2001 and February 2002 totaling $410,000, believing Foster would use the money to buy property on the Dighton/Rehoboth, Mass., line and build a home for wayward girls as a memorial to Morrison's deceased wife, Lucia. The property was to include a recreational area with horses. Foster never bought the property. Instead, prosecutors alleged, he used the money to buy the three-bedroom, five-bath house where he now lives -- for cash -- with his wife and his mother-in-law, Suzanne Almeida, 63, who worked as a caregiver for Morrison. She and Foster, 41, were each indicted last year on four counts of felony larceny and one count of conspiracy to commit larceny for allegedly bilking Morrison out of his money. Today, as part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed all the charges against Almeida and all but one of the charges against Foster. Superior Court Judge Mark Pfeiffer imposed a five-year suspended sentence on Foster and placed him on five years' probation. Foster took out a mortgage to make the $200,000 restitution payment. -- Journal staff writer Tracy Breton Foster's lawyer, Michael Egan, said after court today that Foster, Almeida and Morrison were "best friends" and that the original plan -- before Morrison became so mentally impaired -- was to have him move in with them for the last years of his life. He said he didn't think Foster and his mother-in-law should have been charged in the first place and that his client agreed to plead no contest to one count because he "did not want to put ... Morrison through any more trauma. He is in very ill health and is in no shape to testify." -- Journal staff writer Tracy Breton Posted by Andrea Panciera CommentsTom | December 13, 2006 4:26 PM link Not bad...steals 400 grand, gets not jail time and only has to pay back half. Sounds like a good candidate for Congress mike | December 14, 2006 1:17 PM link How incompetent can the attorney general be? The embezzler took out a mortgage ON THE HOME HE BOUGHT WITH THE EMBEZZLED MONEY!! He should have gone to JAIL! If the guy wanted to plea bargain to avoid trial (and jail), why give him a $210,000 discount on the restitution? Let's see, no trial on the station fire, no trial for this embezzler... Why do they have lawyers working there? They never go to trial (except on slam dunk cases)! Joe | December 14, 2006 5:48 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006
Should be placed in the old fashioned stocks nd have tomatoes thrown at him