photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Honesty Trussell is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Lawrence woman who was accused of stealing money from a resident in an elder care facility was given probation Wednesday in Douglas County District Court and was ordered to repay her victim.

Honesty Trussell — originally charged with felony mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder person and felony theft — pleaded no contest in December 2024, as part of a deal with the state, to a single felony count of attempted mistreatment of a dependent adult.

Judge Sally Pokorny, in line with the plea agreement and Kansas Sentencing Guidelines, sentenced Trussell to six months, which she suspended to 12 months of probation and 12 months of post-release supervision.

She also ordered Trussell to pay $1,940 in restitution within the next 12 months. Pokorny waived Trussell’s court costs and attorney fees so that she could focus on repaying her victim, with whom she can have no contact. Trussell must also attend a theft offender class as one of several conditions of her probation.

As the Journal-World reported, Trussell’s crimes occurred last spring when she worked as the life enrichment coordinator at The Windsor of Lawrence, an assisted living and memory care center at 3220 Peterson Road. An elder woman at the facility reported the theft, and police determined that Trussell had used the woman’s phone to send herself around $2,000 in a series of 15 transactions.

When asked if she’d like to say anything at her sentencing, Trussell declined to speak.

In answer to Pokorny’s questions about her employment status, Trussell, 25, said that she was currently unemployed but was looking for work, in addition to attending online classes via a federal Pell Grant.

Pokorny noted that Trussell has two prior convictions, but she did not disclose what, when or where those were.