Dollar a day not enough in bilking case | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

To stay out of jail - a judge had sentenced her to seven years in prison - the 57-year-old Pasadena woman agreed to sign over her house and pay an additional $214,000 in restitution.

But Skrzesz was back in an Annapolis courtroom on Monday on charges she violated the conditions of her probation - Loretta Soustek's family told the judge she had paid only $330 over the past year. That's less than $1 a day.

"It sounds to me like we are no better off than we were a year ago," Circuit Court Judge Paul F. Harris said, calling Skrzesz's monthly payments of $25 an "affront" to the courts.

He ordered Skrzesz to spend two hours in a county holding cell and to begin paying $500 a month to Mrs. Soustek's estate. The first payment is due June 1, and if she falls more than two payments behind, Judge Harris wants her back in court.

"I don't care how she pays it," said Judge Harris, recommending Skrzesz get a second or third job.

"She's got two choices. Pay it or go back to jail."

Skrzesz pleaded guilty May 8, 2007, to perpetrating a theft scheme over $500. At the same time, she settled a lawsuit filed by her aunt's new guardians.

Judge Harris sentenced Skrzesz to seven years in prison, but suspended the entire sentence as part of a plea agreement. He then placed her on supervised probation for the next five years with the hopes she would pay restitution.

Skrzesz and her attorney, Michael Green, declined comment after Monday's hearing.

But Mr. Green told the judge Skrzesz makes only $22,600 a year and couldn't afford more than $25 a month.

Brenda Hodgson and Belinda Huesman, Mrs. Soustek's guardians before her death in January at the age of 94, praised the sentence.

"I think this is what should have happened last year," said Ms. Hodgson, happy to have seen Skrzesz led from the courtroom Monday in handcuffs - even if the jail time was only two hours.

She noted that Assistant State's Attorney Michael Cogan argued last year for Skrzesz to serve a weekend at the county jail.

As for the $500 Skrzesz must pay every month for at least the next five years, the two said that is more like what they expected.

"It's a car payment," said Ms. Huesman.

Judge Harris made it clear Monday he was willing to go harder on Skrzesz and at least put her behind bars for the night.

The only problem: Prosecutors were arguing for Skrzesz to stay out of jail.

Skrzesz lined her pockets with her aunt's money for five years before anyone caught on.

Armed with a power of attorney signed by Mrs. Soustek after doctors deemed her mentally unfit, Skrzesz easily liquidated her aunt's investments, including $400,000 in Amoco Oil stock.

Prosecutors said Skrzesz used the money to build a new house in 2001 at 436 Harlem Ave. in Pasadena. While Skrzesz told family she wanted her aunt to move in with her, Mrs. Soustek never lived there. Instead, Mrs. Soustek moved into Peartree House Assisted Living in Pasadena.

Skrzesz sold her aunt's house, but still didn't have the money to pay for the nursing home's $3,300 monthly bill. Ms. Huesman said Skrzesz initially borrowed money from her brother to pay the bill, but the funds ran out after a couple of months.

Mrs. Soustek's family started asking more pointed questions in 2005 after the nursing home stopped getting paid. Ms. Huesman and Ms. Hodgson became their great aunt's guardian that year and reviewed her finances, only to see Skrzesz had spent all of her money.