RENO, Nev. (AP) - Prosecutors and a defense attorney disagreed Thursday about the message sent after a 27-year-old Reno man was sentenced to two to 10 years in prison for looting his father’s guardianship accounts.
Attorney General Adam Laxalt announced that the prison term and a judge’s order that Yohannes Habtemicael pay $88,000 in restitution “sends a message that abuses committed against our elderly will not be tolerated and will be aggressively pursued and prosecuted.”
Habtemicael’s attorney, Lee Hotchkin, said that with his client behind bars, there is little chance the money will ever be paid to his father, who lives in Chicago.
“The attorney general can say my client went to prison, but they didn’t collect one cent in restitution for a victim who wanted his money back,” Hotchkin said.
Habtemicael pleaded guilty in March to felony exploitation of an older person in one of several cases in Nevada involving guardians accused of pilfered money from wards of the court.
Hotchkin had argued for Washoe County District Court Judge Jerome Polaha to assign Habtemicael to a court probation program so he could get the charge dismissed after completing restitution.
Habtemicael had been appointed by a court in 2014 as guardian of 67-year-old Tewolde Habtemicael’s estate.
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