Carson woman denies probation violations

MINDEN — A 46-year-old Carson City woman denied allegations Tuesday that she violated probation although she has paid less than a quarter of the $6,500 restitution owed to an elderly woman formerly in her care.

Danah C. Cain pleaded guilty in November 2008 to grand larceny, admitting she took the money in checks and cash from the then-82-year-old woman.

She was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $125 a month.

Cain’s attorney, Kris Brown, said her client admitted she was behind in payments, but attributed it to her inability to find work. Court records indicated the steadiest employment Cain had was working for a few months as an unlicensed child care provider.

District Judge Tod Young set a hearing for June 14 after Cain pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

She has paid $1,385 toward restitution with an outstanding balance of $5,169.50.

The victim’s daughter told investigators her mother suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The younger woman said discrepancies began showing up in the victim’s bank accounts after Cain went to work as her caregiver.

The thefts occurred between May and July, 2008.

According to reports, Cain told investigators she was traveling between Dayton and Gardnerville and gas mileage ate into her finances. She said she had no child support from her ex-husband and lost her house.

Cain said she began gambling and lost $3,000 which she attempted to repay through the victim’s money.

■ Two teenagers who admitted stealing seven marijuana plants and a grow light were ordered Wednesday to pay $1,000 restitution to the victim.

“You’re going to spend graduation and all this summer clean and sober,” East Fork Justice Tom Perkins told Jackson Crawford, and Anthony Ward, both 18.

They were charged with theft and possession of drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanors.

Both pleaded guilty to the possession charge; Crawford pleaded guilty to theft, and Ward pleaded no contest to the charge.

In exchange for their guilty pleas, other charges were dismissed in connection with the Dec. 2 incident.

According to reports, Crawford and Ward were arrested after their vehicle was spotted in the parking lot of Saratoga Springs Park just before 1 a.m. Deputies said there were no plates on the car.

Officers said they could smell marijuana as they approached the vehicle, and one of the defendants admitted “there was a lot of marijuana” in the trunk.

Deputies recovered the plants and lights with a total value of $1,200.

They were sentenced to 90-days on each charge, suspended for one year. The defendants will be under supervision of the Department of Alternative Sentencing, must abstain from drugs and alcohol, and were fined $302.

■ A 27-year-old Gardnerville man who took his boss’s pickup truck without permission while intoxicated, and crashed into a garage in Chichester Estates was ordered Wednesday to pay $3,353.40 restitution.

Robert Clifford Scott pleaded guilty in February to embezzlement and driving under the influence stemming from the Oct. 19 incident. He previously served a jail sentence.

He admitted he had been drinking heavily, and drove the vehicle to a bar where he continued to drink.

On the way home, Scott was traveling east on East Marion Russell Drive when the pickup left the road at about 8 p.m., and hit an electrical power box, a cable television service box, an unoccupied parked pickup and the garage door of a home.

The vehicle came to rest against a tree in the front yard.

Scott, who had a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit of .08, was taken by CareFlight to a Reno hospital with injuries.

The accident resulted in an interruption in electrical and cable service in the neighborhood.

Scott was ordered Wednesday to reimburse his former employer $2,808.40, and the town of Gardnerville $545.

■ A hearing is May 29 for an Indian Hills couple accused of bilking an 86-year-old man out of his savings.

Lawyer Jamie Henry appeared Wednesday in East Fork Justice Court with her client, Michael Allen, 53, and asked that he be released from Douglas County Jail where he has been in custody for 20 days.

His wife, Denise, 54, was released from jail last month because of a medical condition.

The Allens are each charged with two felonies: exploitation of an elderly person, and obtaining or using the personal identity of a person without authorization.

Henry asked for Allen’s release because she said he was hopeful for a job through an employment agency with the Northern Nevada pipeline. Judge Tom Perkins refused to release Allen on his own recognizance or lower his bail, but he changed the terms from cash only to bondable. The judge said he was taking the severity of the charges into consideration.

The Allens are accused of acquiring the victim’s name, checking account and Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and his date of birth without his permission.

With that information, they paid bills, wrote personal checks, and made purchases.

John Giomi, director of Douglas County’s Special Advocates For the Elderly program, believes the Allens went through $300,000 of the victim’s money between October of last year, and this March, when Public Guardian Claudette Springmeyer was appointed to oversee his care.