FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
| Date: | December, 19, 2019 |
| Contact: | Emily Lowe Public Information Officer (208) 287-7700 |
| RE: | State v. Sherri L. Watring Trial Verdict |
BOISE – A jury found an Ada County caregiver guilty Wednesday of all three counts in an elder abuse case.
Sherri L. Watring, 53, was arrested in January 2019 and charged with two felony counts – abuse and neglect of a vulnerable adult under circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm and exploitation of a vulnerable adult in excess of $1,000, as well as a misdemeanor petit theft charge.
The crimes occurred between January 2016 and February 2018 while she was working as a caregiver for an elderly couple. Watring had been working for the victims for a number of years prior to 2016 and gradually increased her role. By 2016, Watring gained the couple’s power of attorney.
The male victim died on Feb. 1, 2018, and Watring had the man cremated without the family’s knowledge. Watring was fired from her position on Feb. 22, 2018, and took the man’s ashes and the urn in which they were kept. She spread the ashes in a location unknown to the man’s family, before turning over the empty urn to law enforcement. She was charged with petit theft for stealing the ashes and the urn.
Watring was also found to have neglected and abused the female victim by failing to provide adequate nutrition and performing improper medical treatments, which created circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm. The female victim died while under hospice care in June 2018.
Watring was also charged for exploiting the couple by taking in excess of $1,000 from them. She accomplished these thefts by way of online transfers between the victim’s bank accounts and her own accounts, and by way of incurring debt in the victim’s names via her position as their power of attorney.
A jury found Watring guilty on all charges following the three-day trial.
“This case raises awareness about elder abuse crimes. The FACES of Hope Victim Center provides resources and support for those experiencing elder abuse,” said Ada County Prosecutor Jan M. Bennetts.
To learn more about elder abuse visit FACES of Hope Victim Center’s website here.
Watring’s sentencing is set for March 6, 2020 in the Ada County Courthouse.
A conviction for felony abuse, neglect or exploitation of a vulnerable adult carries a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment and a $25,000 fine.