An East Greenwich woman and former lawyer who was charged with embezzling nearly $130,000 from an elderly woman will serve 30 months of home confinement and pay full restitution after pleading no contest to the embezzlement and elder exploitation charges on Wednesday.Janet Mastronardi, 54, of 76 Goodwin St., reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Walter R. Stone to seven years in prison with 30 months home confinement.
Fifty-four of those months were suspended with probation, which means Mastronardi, who allegedly bilked an 80-year-old woman she was given power of attorney over out of $129,107.57, will avoid spending time at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston.
Prosecutors had argued for some time spent in jail, "but the court agreed with the defense request for home confinement in consideration of the defendant paying full restitution," Attorney General Peter F. Kilmarin said in a release.
Mastronardi was arrested after a State Police investigation concluded that she stole the money from the woman beginning in 2005 after she was given power of attorney and eventually, was appointed guardian.
The victim, identified as Jane Jacques, was suffering from deteriorating health and didn't have nearby family to take care of her.
In 2010, an employee of Mastronardi noticed "financial irregularities" while preparing a report of Ms. Jacques' finances for Probate Court.
"Specifically, it appeared as though Mastronardi was double billing Ms. Jacques for services rendered in conjunction with the guardianship," Kilmartin said.
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Mastronardi to Serve 30 Months Home Confinement for Embezzling from Elderly Woman