A caregiver for an elderly, disabled woman in southwestern Illinois has been sentenced to four years in prison for fraud after her charge died from malnutrition and neglect.
Fifty-year-old Lisa Luckett of Cahokia also was ordered to pay more than $78,000 in restitution to the state's Medicaid Home Services Program.
Authorities say Luckett used the names of her daughter and a neighbor from 2006 to last year to bill the program for Dorothy Cooper's care.
Cooper was 62 when she died a year ago. Authorities allege Cooper's weight plunged in half to about 90 pounds under Luckett's care and died with atrophied muscles, gangrene and bruises.
Luckett faces state charges of criminal neglect.
Luckett apologized during her sentencing hearing, insisting she loved Cooper like a sister.
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