Elder Abusers Serve Just 42 Days (USA)

Elder abusers serve just 42 days
February 19, 2012
By Tim Engstrom

Two convicted elder abusers only served 42 days each of their 180-day jail sentences, according to Freeborn County jail records.
Brianna Broitzman
Brianna Broitzman and Ashton Larson didn’t have to serve a second 60-day jail stint and now, under a ruling filed in late January, they won’t have to serve the third. And the one they did serve was shortened by 18 days.
Freeborn County District Judge Steven Schwab in 2010 sentenced both Broitzman and Larson to staggered 180-day jail sentences after each was convicted of three counts of disorderly conduct by a caregiver.
Each count represented a different victim from abuses they committed in 2008 at the Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea.
Under the sentence, both were required to serve a 60-day jail term immediately, and then a second and third 60-day jail term would come at later dates. Before the second and third stints, Broitzman and Larson would have the chance to ask to waive the terms. The judge would decide if they had met other conditions in the sentencing, such as writing letters of apology to the victims’ families and obeying laws.
However, in that initial 60-day sentence, they were released after 42 days. Both were processed into the Freeborn County jail but served their time behind bars in the Faribault County jail in Blue Earth because the jail in Albert Lea does not hold women.
Broitzman served her jail time from Oct. 22, 2010, to Dec. 2, 2010, while Larson did her time from Dec. 22, 2010, to Feb. 1, 2011.
Schwab said his purpose in the staggered sentence was “to make a change in their life and a change in attitude primarily.” As part of the sentence, each woman also had to fulfill a long list of requirements.
In the ruling in January, Schwab said their requirements have not been completed but by no fault of the two women. They were to meet with victims’ families in what is called restorative justice. Schwab in September called it the most important aspect of the entire sentencing.
Broitzman and Larson were two of six young women who initially faced charges tied to allegations of abuse at the nursing home. The other cases were handled in juvenile courts, Broitzman and Larson, because they were 18 at the time of the emotional and physical abuse of Alzheimer’s patients, were handled in criminal court.

 SOURCE:     The Albert Lea Tribune
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