Disgraced Gafney administrator gets maximum sentence under plea deal

A Strafford County Sheriff's Deputy places handcuffs on Lisa Gosselin after she was sentenced to state prison for embezzling funds from Rochester's Gafney Home. (Rochester Voice photos)

DOVER - The woman who single-handedly wreaked financial havoc on Rochester's most venerable retirement home by embezzling at least $75,000 through a sophisticated shell game of double invoicing, phony companies and numerous outright thefts, was sentenced on Monday to one and a half to three years in state prison.

Lisa Gosselin, 47, of 39 White Oak Road, Gilmanton Iron Works, wearing a maroon sweater and black pants, had asked Superior Court Judge Mark E. Howard to let her serve her sentence on weekends so that she could begin paying back the money she stole immediately, but Howard refused, saying it was an unusually long sentence for such an arrangement.

Howard also refused her request for voluntary surrender, remanding her directly to Strafford County Jail until she is transferred to the state prison system.

Former Gafney Home administrator Lisa Gosselin enters court after a brief recess just prior to having her sentence pronounced Monday at Strafford County Superior Court.

Howard said that in imposing the maximum sentence of the plea agreement, he was struck by the "sophistication" of her scheme to steal so many thousands of dollars from the Gafney Home, where she had been placed in a lead fiduciary role as the chief administrator.

"Your actions had a possible and indirect impact on our most vulnerable population, the elderly," Howard said.

Deputy County Attorney Tim Sullivan laid out some of the most heinous of Gosselin's malfeasance during his presentencing statement.

He noted that she had set up five dummy companies that she invoiced through the Gafney Home billing system, through which she funneled funds that she used for her personal benefit.

She also used the Gafney Home credit card to purchase numerous items at Home Depot for what she represented were for the assisted living facility but were, in fact, gift cards for herself.

She also paid $7,000 in phone bills with Gafney funds and bought pellets for a pellet stove, though Gafney has none.

During victim impact statements, Jerry Bisaillon, head of the Gafney Home's Board of Directors, said while $75,000 is the amount Gosselin must pay back according to the capped plea, she likely stole well over $100,000 and cost the home even more.

He said, ironically, when she was first hired in 2010, they had high hopes for her success and paid her a handsome annual salary of $75,000, plus a 10 percent bonus after her first year.

But after she hired a woman whom she said was an acquaintance but is now said to have been her longtime partner, it all went downhill.

Bisaillon said many longtime employees left and then filed two lawsuits accusing the home of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Both lawsuits were settled out of court but cost the home substantial amounts due to the settlements, themselves, and legal fees.

But what vexed Bisaillon most was that when they noticed the financials didn't look right in June 2013 and asked her about them, she became agitated and tried to thwart their investigation.

"We questioned her on June 11, she became quite agitated," Bisaillon said.

When they asked for her laptop that would have answered many questions, she hid it in the trunk of her car and took it home, he said, adding when she did surrender it, "it was of no use" to the investigation.

Soon after this she was fired for insubordination.

Barbara Putnam, who came aboard as treasurer at the home in May 2013 just a month before Gosselin's firing, gave some of the harshest criticism of the hearing chiding the former administrator for both her greed and guile.

"Her only objective at this job was to take as much money from the home as she could without being caught," Putnam said.

Putnam said Gosselin cost the home another $30,000 by under estimating the amount of work hours performed by employees at the home which put them in the red on their unemployment insurance.

Putnam estimated the two employee lawsuits cost the home $60,000 in legal fees.

Attorney Carl Potvin, the Gafney Board of Directors vice chairman since 2013, decried the damage Gosselin had done to the 20-bed facility as an institution that has been respected in the community since its founding in 1904.

"She took away the home's dignity," he said.

After the sentencing was over Gosselin's partner refused comment as did defense attorneys who left quickly and quietly.

Meanwhile, current Gafney Home administrator and former Rochester mayor T.J. Jean said morale has "improved tenfold" since Gosselin's departure.

"Since I've been there it's been wonderful," Jean said. "We have a wonderful, dedicated staff. But it will take years to recover financially though."

An official statement released by the Gafney Home Board of Directors noted their relief that this ordeal is finally over.

"It has been almost five years since these crimes have occurred," the statement reads. "This case has been very taxing on the limited resources of the Gafney Home, and we continue to feel the negative financial impact of Ms. Gosselin's actions to this day.

"We look forward to closing this unfortunate chapter in our 114-year history of dedicated service to the elderly in our community. We remain focused on our mission to care for our residents with compassion, dignity and respect."

Gosselin's three other felonies associated with the case will be served concurrently and suspended for 10 years.

Gosselin can also get six months off her one and a half to three year term sentence for good behavior.