FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 6th, 2018
Contact: David Carl (505) 288-2465
Albuquerque, NM – Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that Leanne Bennett
was sentenced to one and a half years in the department of corrections for stealing from elderly
patients who suffered from dementia. The Office of the Attorney General secured 11 felony
convictions against Bennett for stealing more than $30,000 from elderly residents while working
as an office manager at the Rehabilitation Center of Albuquerque between 2012 and 2013.
Bennett was sentenced by Judge Charles Brown to one and a half years after the State argued for
three years in the Department of Corrections.
“We have a responsibility to step in and protect vulnerable populations within New Mexico,”
said Attorney General Hector Balderas. “This defendant took advantage of innocent New
Mexicans battling dementia and a system we rely on to care for the elderly and disabled. I’m
pleased that she will be held accountable for her crimes, and the people she exploited will
receive restitution.”
Bennett gained access to residents’ checking accounts, ATM accounts and debit cards, and wrote
checks to herself and made cash withdrawals from victims’ accounts from ATM’s across
Albuquerque.
Bennett will serve a sentence of one and a half years in the New Mexico Department of
Corrections, followed by five years of supervised probation, and will be required to pay more
than $44,000 in restitution to the victims.