Former Police Commander Sentenced In Case Involving Elderly Woman's Pleasanton Estate
HAYWARD (CBS SF) -- A former Pinole police commander who had been charged with defrauding an elderly neighbor with dementia was sentenced Wednesday to 66 days in jail and five years' probation for an unrelated felony count of lying about his assets during a bankruptcy case.
The main issue at 38-year-old Matthew Messier's sentencing was whether Alameda County Superior Court Judge Michael Gaffey should consider charges that he tried to steal the Pleasanton home of 84-year-old Jean Phyllis Jones even though those charges were dismissed last Sept. 16 when Messier pleaded no contest to the charge of filing false documents about his assets.
Prosecutor Connie Campbell said she offered the plea deal to Messier during the middle of his jury trial when it became clear that testifying against him was taking too hard a toll on Jones, who was in frail health and died on Jan. 7.
Campbell said Gaffey should consider the allegations involving Messier's alleged abuse of Jones because the plea agreement included a provision that the conservators' of Jones estate be allowed to testify at his sentencing. That provision implied that those allegations could be considered, Campbell said.
Jones' conservators, Heidi Bailey and Laurie Riddley, both testified Wednesday that Jones lived in fear that Messier would kill her so he could get her house.
Riddley said Messier "took the golden out of her golden years."
But Messier's attorney, Kenneth Robinson, said the allegations involving Jones are irrelevant because Messier wasn't convicted of any of them and Messier has continuously maintained that he never defrauded her.
Messier "was simply following her desires" in filing documents that would have given him possession of her home on Neal Street in Pleasanton, Robinson said.
The house was built before 1905 as the first hospital in Pleasanton. Jones' parents bought it in 1932 and she lived in it for most of her life.
Campbell said Jones had no heirs and she wanted to give it to the city of Pleasanton and have it added to California's historical registry.
Messier moved into a rental a few doors down from Jones when he lost his own home to foreclosure in 2008.
Campbell said Jones had begun displaying signs of dementia in 2012, when she said Messier "tricked her" into signing documents that gave him power over her affairs and would have given him possession of her home.
The prosecutor said, "What he did to her was criminal, it was cruel and it was vicious because he had a self interest in owning her home."
Messier resigned from the Pinole Police Department in October 2012, shortly before charges were filed against him.
At the end of the emotional two-hour hearing Wednesday, Gaffey said he agreed with Robinson that he shouldn't consider the charges involving the alleged abuse of Jones, which included grand theft, attempted grand theft, elder abuse, forgery, registering a stolen document, conspiracy and practicing law without a license.
But Gaffey said it was hard for him to disregard those allegations completely and he believes Messier "tried to manipulate Miss Jones when she was in a very deficient state."
Gaffey told Messier, "You're an enigma to me" because he's done good things with his life, such as having a good career as a police officer and helping his wife with her financial problems, but also has done bad things, such as "getting your mitts on the money" that belonged to Jones.
The count to which Messier pled calls for five years' probation and up to one year in jail.
Campbell urged Gaffey to sentence Messier to nine months in jail but Robinson said Messier shouldn't serve any time because there weren't any victims to his crime.
After Gaffey sentenced Messier to 66 days in jail, Robinson asked if his client could serve that term through electronic monitoring but the judge said, "I won't let him do that" and insisted that he serve time in jail.
However, Messier won't have to start serving his sentence until March 25, when Gaffey will hold a hearing on the prosecution's request that he pay $55,000 in restitution.
Messier declined to comment after his hearing.
Robinson said that after Messier completes his probation his felony count will be reduced to a misdemeanor and he could pursue a law enforcement job again. But he said Messier won't make a decision about that until later.
Campbell said of Messier, "I've known many good police officers and it's sad that what he did reflects poorly on law enforcement in general."
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