Richard Hatfield Accused Of Probation Violation

A Gillette man who admitted to taking money from his mother and was sentenced to probation, is accused of getting behind on his court ordered restitution payments.

Natrona County Prosecutors have filed a petition to revoke Richard Hatfield's probation.

He pleaded guilty to one count larceny by bailee and was given a four-to-five year suspended prison sentence with eight years of probation, and was ordered to pay $85,000 in restitution, at a rate of $900 per month.

Prosecutors say from August 2014, through March 2016, there were eight months were he either made a partial payment or no payment at all.

Investigators with the Casper Police Department say Hatfield’s mother was declared incompetent in 2007 and when that happened, Hatfield withdrew a large sum of money from her bank account with no apparent records for what it was used for.

She also had two of her Natrona County homes sold in 2009 by Hatfield, who has had power of attorney since 2005.

A review by the Department of Family Services determined that there were a number of expenditures and credit card payments, made by Hatfield that were unaccounted for and did not appear to have been done in his mother’s best interests.

Hatfield claimed that some of the money was used to cover the costs of preparing the two properties for sale, but he had no receipts to back up his claims.

Hatfield’s mother was also behind on her payments to a nursing home in Casper.

Hatfield is free on a $10,000 signature bond, and will have a hearing on his alleged probation violation at a later date.

If the court rules that he violated it, all or part of his suspended prison sentence could be reinstated.