Ex-officer sentenced on drug charges
Toolbox
By Brent Curtis Herald Staff - Published: August 22, 2008
A former state corrections officer was sentenced to seven months in jail Thursday on drug charges including the sale of cocaine.
Sobbing as she stood before the court, Sheri Ann Fitzgerald, 44, of Rutland, offered an apology before Judge William Cohen issued a sentence that will put the former prison guard and community corrections officer behind bars.
"What I did was totally wrong. I have no excuses. I let down the state of Vermont, the Department of Corrections and my family," she said. "I'm just trying to become a better person."
Fitzgerald pleaded guilty in March to felony possession and sale charges involving cocaine as well as a misdemeanor charge of possessing a narcotic. A fourth felony charge of distributing narcotics was dismissed by the state in March, but prosecutors withheld the right to use the dismissed charge as a factor during sentencing.
The remaining charges carried a maximum sentence of up to 16-1/2 years in jail.
She was arrested in April 2007 after selling cocaine to a police informant behind the Proctor Free Library. The police affidavit filed in the case included statements from prisoners and individuals on furlough she worked with who told police that Fitzgerald had sought drugs from them and smuggled contraband into the prison for the inmates.
Before she was sentenced, written and oral statements, including testimony from Fitzgerald's mother, sister and counselor were presented as evidence of how far treatment and other drug rehabilitation therapy Fitzgerald has engaged in during the last year have changed her.
"She's already lost enough. She's lost her 18-year career, her home, her retirement and her standing in the community. If she is incarcerated for more time, she will lose custody of her 9-year-old son," defense attorney Eric Louttit said.
Louttit asked the judge to sentence Fitzgerald to 18 months to three years, all suspended except for 40 days to serve on probation.
However, Assistant State Attorney General Annika Frostick argued that Fitzgerald's abuse of power and exploitation of some of the people she oversaw in the community was egregious.
"She was in a position of authority and she exploited that to get to customers and sources for her drugs," Frostick said. "That's an inexcusable betrayal of the public trust and of the people she supervised in this vulnerable population."
Frostick also challenged assessments that Fitzgerald has been drug free since her arrest a year ago. She referenced a violation of conditions of release in which Fitzgerald was drinking — her lawyer said she had a glass of wine — and she said Fitzgerald's renewed prescription of the drug Tylox — a painkiller that she became addicted to before using illegal drugs — showed that Fitzgerald wasn't clean.
She asked the court to sentence Fitzgerald to 16 months to six years in jail.
In sentencing Fitzgerald, Cohen sought for a middle ground.
"This is a very difficult case to sentence," the judge said. "There's the need to balance out the fact that she doesn't have a record, she's 44 and she's never been involved in the court system in any way I know of and there's the years of dedicated service to the state. Prior to the incident, it seems she was a dedicated worker to the people she worked for and with.
"But those things need to be balanced out with the complete breach of trust that occurred … the people she was responsible for were involved in these crimes … based on that breach of trust, the court needs to include some component of an incarcerated sentence," Cohen added.
The judge sentenced Fitzgerald concurrently to a 16-month to six-year sentence — all suspended except for seven months in jail with credit for time served. Fitzgerald spent six weeks in jail last year.
Cohen gave Fitzgerald two weeks to get her affairs together before she has to report to jail on Sept. 4.
Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.
13