http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150320/THISJUSTIN/150329997
Former church secretary faces new criminal charges
By ERIC FRANCIS
HERALD CORRESPONDENT | March 20,2015
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A former Springfield church secretary faced new criminal charges this week after she allegedly lied about money problems to get money from church parishoners.
Holly Aldrich, 48, of Springfield, who has also been known as Holly Jagelski in recent years, pleaded innocent this week to three misdemeanor counts of false pretenses before she was released from the courthouse in White River Junction on pre-trial conditions. She is the former secretary at the rectory of St. Mary’s Catholic church in Springfield, who police say used her personal connections to people she knew through the church - some of whom remembered her from nearly three decades ago - in order to get money from them under false pretenses.
Aldrich had already been facing two felony counts of forgery, charges to which she entered innocent pleas last June, after a local small business owner and a church acquaintance of Aldrich’s reported to police that she’d gotten into their vehicles on unrelated occasions and stolen blank checks. Springfield Police say that Aldrich forged signatures and wrote in hundred dollar amounts on each of the checks before managing to cash one at a convenience store and being turned away from a credit union with the other.
The latest charges allege that at the beginning of this year Aldrich approached a series of churchgoers with the same story, saying that her husband had just left her, taking all of her money except for a $10,000 certificate of deposit which she could only retrieve from her bank by paying a $140 fee upfront. The victims said Aldrich promised to promptly repay them within hours once she’d supposedly withdrawn the larger sum.
Chester Police Detective Matthew Wilson wrote in an affidavit filed with the court that in January he received two complaints from townspeople who said they’d given Aldrich the $140 she said she needed only to have her disappear on them and stop taking their calls.
Wilson said he soon “found surrounding towns were reporting the same type” of fraud scheme was allegedly being perpetrated by Aldrich.
“Weathersfield Police Chief William Daniels stated he’d had numerous reports (about Aldrich) with the same exact scam,” Wilson wrote in the court paperwork but he also noted, “Chief Daniels said a that a lot of his victims were shy about pressing the issue.”
Wilson noted that his counterparts at the Springfield Police Department have also opened their own parallel investigation into complaints about Aldrich allegedly carrying out “numerous scams of the same nature” in their town as well.
Aldrich, who has no prior criminal record, faces a maximum potential penalty of up to 23 years in prison if she were to be convicted of all of the charges now outstanding against her.
Holly Aldrich is a truly, despicable human being. As family member to one of her victims, I am repulsed how she pedatorily targeted the most frail and vulnerable in our own community. I hold no hope Judge Karen Carol, the patron saint of criminals will ever extract justice or protect us. Alas, karma will yield a balance.
ReplyDeleteBeloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Romans 12:19
I knew Holly a few years ago. We worked at the same company. She was a smart generous and beautiful girl. It just goes to show you what drug addiction does to people. What lengths people will go to, to feed their habits. I don't condone what Holly has done to people,,some her friends..She is a very sick girl that needs help. I hope she gets it. If Holly's introduction to drugs was via a drug dealer, he should be taken out, a rope put around his punk neck and hanged until he is dead.
ReplyDeleteDrugs will ruin a persons life and hope that Holly will seek help to return to the person she was. But hang the dealer? It required a dealer and a user to create this problem. Everyone involved needs to learn a lesson but the end result will most likely be another slap on the hand from the court in WRJ.
DeleteI'm beginning to believe you can commit any crime you wish in our fair town and our wonderful judges in WRJ will have you back out on the street within hours of your arrest to continue to prey on the community.
ReplyDeleteYES, HANG THE DEALER
ReplyDeleteA drug addict has a disease, that until they are pulled away from, have very little control over their actions. A drug dealer or distributor however has a choice. They choose to take advantage of addicts. As far as I'm concerned they are the worst slime, pond scum walking around. They should be simply eliminated if caught. Pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, and many others it was our Docs who prescribed opiate pain killers knowing they are addictive. Once addicted, they end the script, and then the dealers take over. That said she has had numerous opportunities at very nice rehab facilities for extended periods of time, comes back clean and chooses to go right back to it. It's very sad to see, but doesn't necessarily excuse the person, especially when they are stealing/ scamming from often vulnerable folks.
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