Richard Hatfield Sentenced In Probation Revocation Case

A Gillette man who admitted to taking money from his mother and was sentenced to probation, has repaid all the money he owed, but will be spending sometime in jail anyway.

Richard Hatfield given a four-to-five year prison sentence, with all but 100 days suspended and credit for seven days served, followed by two-and-one-half years of probation, after he admitted to violating his probation in a case where he pleaded guilty to one count of larceny by bailee.

He was originally 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.

Natrona County Prosecutors say from August 2014, through March 2016, there were eight months were he either made a partial payment or no payment at all, although recently, the restitution has been paid in full.

Hatfield was also accused of not notifying his probation agent, that he had moved to Gillette, although Hatfield claims there was a miscommunication.

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.