Caregiver to elderly man sentenced for larceny as a hate crime

Wednesday, August 24, 2022 - 18:16

A woman charged with stealing from a 96-year-old Selkirk man she had been paid to care for has recently been sentenced to one-and-a-half to three years in prison, according to the Bethlehem Police Department.

“The victim’s family requested this update due to the nature of this crime,” said Deputy Chief James L. Rexford in an email releasing the information.

In October 2020, Denise J. Houghtaling, who was 50 at the time, was charged with felony counts of grand larceny as a hate crime, identity theft, and falsifying business records. The grand larceny was considered a hate crime because she targeted an elderly victim, the Bethlehem Police said in a release at the time.

The victim’s family became concerned when they were reviewing the Selkirk man’s estate after he died in February 2019. Police discovered that Hoghtaling had stolen $53,121.86 from his account, the release said.

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