Judge shows mercy to Twin Cities woman who stole $292K from vets

In 2009, Patricia Winstead wrote a thesis in her social work program at the University of St. Thomas on the problems veterans face in VA homes, including anger and depression caused by financial difficulties.

Unknown to anyone, she was simultaneously stealing from vulnerable veterans as a money manager handling the financial affairs of veterans deemed incapable of overseeing their money themselves.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery sentenced Winstead, 42, to a "significant downward departure" — one year and a day — for stealing more than $292,000 in 198 incidents from 24 veterans over a five-year period. She also was ordered to make restitution.

Based on typical time-off provisions, Winstead will be imprisoned for nine months, Montgomery said.

The principal reason for reducing the sentence is that Winstead "self reported," Montgomery said, disclosing to authorities that she had stolen the money. Winstead's attorney, Eric Olson, said the thefts would never have been discovered otherwise.

Montgomery noted that while she needed to punish her, Winstead had to endure a long wait before the sentence was handed down, remaining in limbo for three years after turning herself in.

During an emotional statement in which she repeatedly wept, Winstead apologized. "I'm sorry," she told Montgomery. "I violated a lot of trust."

Prosecutor John Marti called Montgomery's sentence "very thoughtful and wise," though it was less than half the 24 to 37 months he recommended in his brief.

He described it as "remarkable" and "rare" that a perpetrator would disclose a crime when none was suspected, noting that she had helped authorities to reconstruct in detail how she had fabricated records. He told Montgomery he felt she could "show some mercy in this matter while upholding the rule of law."

Marti said afterward that for the most part the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration have reimbursed the victims, as well as the families of two veterans who have died.

In a memorandum prepared by her lawyer, Winstead asked for probation, blaming a gambling addiction, and said she had completed treatment and had not gambled for years. In statements in court and in documents, Olson blamed her descent into gambling on family-related abuse.

She finally decided she could no longer continue to steal and gamble, Olson wrote, and contemplated suicide, but decided to turn herself in. She resigned from a veterans home in Hastings, where she was working and turned up at his office.

Following the sentence, Winstead smiled at family members and declined to talk to a reporter. Montgomery said Winstead, formerly of Hastings but now living west of the Twin Cities with a relative, will have to report to prison in about a month.

"I think it's a thoughtful sentence," said Olson. "She doesn't want to go to prison for a year and a day, but she accepts it. She knows it was a fair sentence."

Randy Furst • 612-673-4224