Judge calls woman who swindled her father 'a disgrace'

Ramsey County District Judge Margaret (Peg) Marrinan stared straight through Lisa Jane Mayne in court Wednesday and called her "a disgrace" for swindling her ailing father out of at least $46,000 and leaving him destitute and in debt for the first time in his life.

Mayne was ordered to serve 90 days in jail and will serve a year and a half if she messes up. She will be on probation for 10 years.

"I don't think with what you've done you should do anything less than hard time," Marrinan told her. The judge also ordered Mayne to pay restitution of $46,000.

According to court documents and interviews with the family, Donald Mayne, 77, a retired bus driver, gave his eldest daughter, a lawyer, power of attorney in 2005 when he began to show signs of dementia and suffered complications from diabetes. He moved first to a nursing home and then to an assisted-living facility.

Without his knowledge, Lisa Mayne drained his bank accounts over a 27-month period and used the money to pay for personal expenses.

Last August, the nursing home sued Donald Mayne for payment of almost $38,000. The assisted-living facility was owed almost $9,000.

Donald Mayne also faced bureaucratic hurdles when his medical assistance benefits were cut off. With the help of University of St. Thomas law students, the benefits were eventually reinstated.

Prosecutor Tamara McConkey told Marrinan on Wednesday that Donald Mayne is embarrassed by the debt and heartsick that it was caused by his own daughter.

Defense attorney David Paulzine told the judge that Lisa Mayne has sought counseling for mental health issues and "never missed an appointment."

She "has been punished for this already," Paulzine said. She has been denied employment and could lose her housing if she goes to jail, he said.

Lisa Mayne said she takes responsibility for her actions, "especially for the hurt I've caused my family."

"I want my father to know I'll always be sorry for what I did," she said.

"I don't really know," she said. "There were rooms in my house filled with things I didn't need."

She lost her home to foreclosure last year, Mayne told the judge.

Marrinan told Mayne that as she'd been awaiting her sentencing she'd seen a lot of people in the courtroom "who had substantially less than you. Yet you've chosen to betray your father. You've betrayed a person who gave you protection. You've betrayed a vulnerable adult."