Rejecting calls for harsher punishment, a federal judge on Tuesday gave probation, time in a halfway house and home confinement to a health aide who stole Oxycontin pills from a resident of a Burnsville assisted-living center.
Margaret A. Mammen, 54, of Bloomington, was sentenced in St. Paul by U.S. District Judge Susan R. Nelson for taking prescription drugs from the 89-year-old resident and others at Augustana Regent. Mammen will be on probation for three years, with 90 days in a halfway house and another 90 days of home confinement.
Mammen, who pleaded guilty, admitted that in 2009 she stole Oxycontin from the woman, leaving her in debilitating pain, to feed her own addiction. She also admitted replacing the Oxycontin with ibuprofen.
In arguing for a six-month prison term, the U.S. attorney's office said the resident's relatives often found the woman in "uncontrolled pain." Defense attorney Andrew Mohring countered that Mammen has made strides in her addiction recovery, has a stable home life and took full responsibility for her actions.
The aide was fired, and the home also was cited by the state because it did not immediately report the theft.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
