Colorado Woman Sentenced for Stealing Identities of Senior Women
Some criminals have no shame. Sarah Weaver, for instance, went after senior women and stole their identities. Fortunately, she was just sentenced to 32 years in jail.
From 2004 through 2006, Sarah Weaver stole wallets and checkbooks from eight older women after she deceived them into helping her. Putnam was on probation for a similar crime when she was arrested in this case. On July 9, 2007 Putnam pled guilty to eight counts of Theft from an At-risk Adult, and one count of Forgery, all felonies.
This is Putnam's eighth felony conviction in Colorado, all for these same types of crimes. It's her second felony conviction for identity theft in Jefferson County. Putnam would approach an older woman in a retail store such as a crafts store, grocery store or discount department store.
The eight victims named in this case ranged from 66 to 86 years of age. Putnam approached them and then engaged them in conversation before she asked for their assistance in reaching some item on a low shelf. She used the ruse that she had a bad back or had just had a caesarian section. These older women were not very nimble themselves, but tried to help. When the unsuspecting Good Samaritan bent down to help, Putnam pilfered through their purses, stealing checkbooks and wallets. She used the credit and debit cards and spent the money.
District Attorney Scott Storey attended the sentence and met with two of the women who had been victimized by Putnam. Storey says, "This woman has similar convictions in at least three other counties. Cases like these are the very reason we have an Identity Theft Task Force to help us share information in crimes being committed by one person or a group across jurisdictions."
Before imposing sentence, Chief Judge Brooke Jackson said that he remembered when Putnam appeared before him in 2005, remorseful, saying that she would change her life. Now, said Jackson, she was back with six added felony convictions. Jackson talked about the impact on the older adults Putnam had victimized and said that he hoped his sentence sent a message that there will be consequences for this conduct in Jefferson County.