Assisted living worker stole heirlooms from patients, then pawned them, VT official says
The daughter of a Vermont assisted living facility patient noticed that her parent’s missing heirloom jewelry had vanished last year.
The family found the jewelry at a local pawn shop, where an employee of Maple Ridge Memory Care in Essex Junction had pawned it off, according to the state Attorney General’s Office. Essex Junction is about a 210-mile drive northwest from Boston.
Lilac Rain Brown-Fisher, the facility’s former activities director, has been sentenced after she was accused of stealing “valuable” heirlooms from multiple clients, the attorney general’s office said in a Jan. 2 news release.
Brown-Fisher, 29, of Essex Junction, was sentenced to up to five years in prison, which the judge suspended for a term of probation due to her “prompt acceptance of responsibility,” the office said.
On Nov. 21, she agreed to plead guilty to felony financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, according to officials.
Brown-Fisher’s defense attorney and Maple Ridge Memory Care didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from McClatchy News on Jan. 2.
At her sentencing, four victims’ family members spoke about the “severe” impacts caused by the thefts of their loved ones’ valuables, according to the attorney general’s office.
“My (mother’s) ring is gone and there’s no getting it back,” one family member said in court. “My heart is sick that I can’t pass it down to her beloved granddaughter.”
After the daughter of one of the Maple Ridge residents noticed her parent’s jewelry was gone in February, it was located at Vermont Coin and Jewelry, which is about a 10-mile drive southwest from the facility, the attorney general’s office said.
The Essex Police Department, which was alerted to the theft, learned the jewelry was stolen by Brown-Fisher after detectives watched Maple Ridge’s surveillance footage, according to the attorney general’s office.
An investigation “revealed several more instances of theft by Brown-Fisher, but those heirlooms had already been disposed of by the pawn broker,” the office said.
Brown-Fisher was charged with felony grand larceny, felony larceny from a person and felony financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult in March, according to officials.
She initially pleaded not guilty to those charges that month, officials said.
Brown-Fisher made local news in 2020, when Vermont State Police arrested her on multiple charges, including driving under the influence, the Saint Albans Messenger reported.
Brown-Fisher was seen speeding near Saint Michael’s College in Colchester at about 1:40 a.m. on March 6, 2020, according to the newspaper, citing state police.
A trooper said they saw her drive 91 mph in a 45 mph zone, then pulled her over and learned she was intoxicated from alcohol, the newspaper reported.
As part of Brown-Fisher’s sentence in the theft case, she owes restitution to her victims, is banned from caring for vulnerable adults and has to do a restorative justice program that involves completing 200 community service hours, according to the attorney general’s office.
The office encourages reporting any suspected exploitation, neglect or abuse to authorities.
In Vermont, “elder exploitation, neglect and abuse” can be reported over the phone to the state’s Adult Protective Services at 800-564-1612 and through the state’s online Medicaid Fraud Report Form.
This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Assisted living worker stole heirlooms from patients, then pawned them, VT official says."
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