Laurel Hospice Worker In Prison For Exploitation

LAUREL, Miss.--Taking over $3,500 from a dying person has landed 50-year-old Lena Hinson in prison for one year. The sentence came Monday after a guilty plea in Jones County Circuit Court. Attorney Gen. Jim Hood told us Corrections immediately slapped the cuffs and shackles on Hinson and took her to begin serving her sentence. She has three years suspended and two years probation. Plus, she'll have to repay the money she took once she gets out.

It's gonna be a costly affair for Hinson. She also has to pay nearly $400 in court costs, $1,000 to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund, $1,000 to Jones County for the use of a public defender and she'll have to do community service in the Eighteenth Circuit Court Community Service Program.

Hood said that while Hinson worked at Seyah Hospice of Laurel as a clerk she added herself as a co-signor of the savings account of one of the patients served by the Hospice. Then, for a period of about eight months, Hinson withdrew $3,552.47 from the victim’s savings account and converted the funds for her own use.

“Our office is deeply committed to protecting our state’s most vulnerable residents, and we will prosecute anyone doing them harm,” said Hood.

Laurel Hospice Worker in Prison for Exploitation