Healdsburg caregiver sentenced to jail for elder abuse

A Healdsburg man who ran a counseling program for elderly people was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail for embezzling nearly $26,000 from a woman with dementia.

Andrew Ross, 47, who ran Creative Counseling for Elders and Families, also was barred from ever working as a caregiver again. Judge Patrick Broderick said he may apply to serve his sentence on work release or electronic home confinement.

“This is, in the court’s judgment, a serious matter and the punishment and conditions are appropriate,” Broderick said from the bench.

The sentence was the result of a plea bargain with prosecutors after Ross repaid about $22,000 of the money he took in 2014 and 2015 from the bank account an 86-year-old woman, who has since died.

He used it to pay his taxes and take a trip to Mexico, prosecutor Sharmalee Rajakumaran said.

The theft was discovered by officers of Summit Bank who noticed Ross transferring money from the woman’s account into his own.

Rajakumaran told the judge the woman was particularly vulnerable because of her condition, which made her rely on Ross, and the fact she had no family.

Ross pleaded no contest to a count of felony elder abuse by a caregiver, the prosecutor said.

Under state sentencing laws and with time already served, he could be eligible for release in three months.

His lawyer, Richard Ingram, said he was remorseful, “from the very beginning.”

Charges against his wife, Nicole Ross, have been dismissed.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne