WICHITA, KAN. – A woman who stole thousands of dollars from her great uncle has been sentenced to prison.
Sedgwick County District Judge David Kaufman sentenced Stephanie Bracks, 43 of Dallas, Texas to 47 months in prison and ordered her to pay restitution, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.
The case began in 2020 when a woman contacted Wichita Police because she thought Bracks was stealing money from her 89 year old uncle Pearl Williams. A second niece noticed Mr. Williams’ drivers license, social security card and several checkbooks were missing from his Wichita home.
A police review of the case showed unauthorized checks written to Bracks and her boyfriend Anthony Patterson.
On August 29th, a jury found Bracks guilty of felony Mistreatment of an Elder Person and felony theft. As sheriff deputies handcuffed Bracks and took her to jail, Judge Kaufman also ordered her boyfriend Anthony Patterson arrested because he was not paying restitution in the case and violated his probation. After serving a jail sanction,
Patterson is now back on probation and paying his restitution. Patterson had earlier pled guilty to theft and was sentenced to probation.
Along with the prison sentence for Bracks, Judge Kaufman today ordered her to pay $52,661.60 in restitution.