December 7, 2021 at 9:46 a.m.
Woodruff woman sentenced to prison in elder exploitation case
Woodruff woman sentenced to prison in elder exploitation case
Kassie A. Wujkowski must also serve 10 years probation after completing the extended supervision and pay restitution to the victim.
Wujkowski had been scheduled to stand trial in early January but a plea agreement was announced at the final pre-trial conference Nov. 30.
In entering guilty pleas to two counts of theft in a business setting over $10,000, Wujkowski admitted to stealing at least $275,418.68 from the victim over a 2 1/2 year period through the unauthorized use of credit cards and withdrawals from banks accounts.
Two other counts of theft of movable property (special facts) were dismissed in accordance with the plea agreement.
"On Count 1 there is a joint recommendation for a Wisconsin Prison System sentence for a period of 10 years or 120 months," Oneida County district attorney Mike Schiek said. "That would be bifurcated into 18 months initial confinement followed by 102 months of extended supervision."
Schiek explained that one condition of the extended supervision would be that the defendant would have to pay restitution to the victim totaling just over $300,000. when the statutory 10-percent surcharge is added.
On the second of the two charges, Schiek told the court the sentencing recommendation was to withhold sentence and place Wujkowski on probation for 10 years consecutive to the sentence in the other count.
Because the sentences would be consecutive, Wujkowski would have to finish the prison and extended supervision before her probation would start.
After Oneida County circuit judge Mike Bloom granted the motion to dismiss the "special facts' counts, Wujkowski pled guilty to the remaining charges.
In his sentencing statement, Schiek said that he and the victim/witness coordinator have had frequent contact with the victim.
"He understood the proposal, and he was satisfied with the goals," Schiek said. "He wanted restitution and he wanted some sort of punishment or punitive sanction..."
He noted that the victim is in his mid-70s "and had worked hard to provide a nest egg for his retirement years."
As his caretaker, Wujkowski had legal authority to access the man's finances in order to provide necessities and other items. When investigators looked at the financial records, "it became clear that it wasn't him (the victim) authorizing these payments or transactions," the prosecutor said.
"I think what it came down to was a gambling addiction," Schiek continued. "Many of the transactions were taken out at the casino many times a day over the course of a month. It really added up rather quickly."
He added that the restitution amount agreed upon "was certainly provable" and even if the victim doesn't live to see full payment, his estate will.
During Wujkowski's preliminary hearing, special agent Loreen Glaman of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, said the forensic accounting done on the victim's finances showed Wujkowski allegedly made 1,324 transactions totaling $313,774.03 on one credit card belonging to the alleged victim. Of those transactions, 139 were cash advances made at three casinos totaling $139,901.76.
Between November 2017 and January 2020, 84 payments were made on the credit card balance totaling $289,950.66 taken from two of the alleged victim's financial accounts, Glaman said.
She also testified that between May 2018 and March 2020, Wujkowski transferred over $92,976.73 in cash and checks into a credit union account belonging to Wujkowski that had come from two of the alleged victim's financial accounts.
In his sentencing statement, defense attorney Paul Augustyn pointed out Wujkowski's age, lack of criminal record and long-time relationship with the victim.
"Kassie and the victim were more than employer and employee, it was kind of a familial relationship," Augustyn said. "The victim spent hours at Kassie's house with her family. There was a mutual affection and a mutual generosity between them."
Augustyn said her generosity was to take care of the victim while his was to "share some of his finances with her."
"Unfortunately, she was unable to control herself," he added.
He said Wujkowski wanted to spare the victim the emotion trauma of a trial and accepted responsibility for her actions.
"The amount of restitution is sizable," Augustyn said. "If she is incarcerated, she won't be able to do anything about that."
Wujkowski tearfully declined to speak on her own behalf.
Bloom noted he signed one of the original search warrants in this case, so he was aware of the facts before the charges were even filed, and how the theft was tied to Wujkowski's gambling addition.
"This is a situation that in some respects is not unusual," Bloom said. "I've seen multiple cases before this case happened. An older gentlemen who is cared for by a younger female. And in at least one of those cases, the older gentleman didn't see a problem, the family members had to come to the police."
"And the bottom line is this conduct, while explainable to an extent by the gambling addiction, is just despicable," Bloom added. "Plain and simple, despicable."
The judge then said that the amount of money stolen is the most serious factor he considered in arriving at a sentence.
"It's been alluded to by both counsels, but anything other than a prison sentence would depreciate the seriousness of the offense," Bloom said, adding that he intended to go along with the plea agreement.
While Wujkowski's crimes demand punishment, she also is entitled to an opportunity at earning redemption, he added.
"The structure of the disposition that has been reached by counsel provides both accountability and that opportunity," Bloom said.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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