Franklin woman sent to jail for stealing from man in her care

Published 9:24 am Thursday, November 10, 2011

COURTLAND—A Franklin woman will serve 28 months in jail for stealing and cashing seven checks from an elderly Franklin man she worked for.

Yvette Darden, 41, was sentenced Tuesday in Southampton County Circuit Court on 14 counts of forgery of checks for stealing from Lowell Carrington between March 20 and April 11, according to court records.

Darden also was ordered to serve four years probation, pay court costs and restitution of $677, and stay away from the victim.

Darden testified that she would make restitution and hoped to avoid jail because she needs to get her nephew to regular kidney dialysis treatments. She called the incident a lapse in judgment.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Cooke called the crime pre-meditated and told the court that Darden had the victim’s mail stopped so he wouldn’t find out what was happening. Cooke noted that Darden had been previously convicted of forgery and shoplifting.

“This is somebody who has been stealing, and this time she was caught red-handed,” Cooke said.