Ana Veronica Hagan and The Case of the Missing Quarter-Million Dollars

An elderly, long-time Albany resident, was robbed recently, by a woman from Texas.

Marcia Barksdale lives in Albany, Oregon and worked hard her entire life. She never had a great job, but she had good jobs. She lived frugally. She drove mediocre cars. She lived in modest homes. She saved money.

Barksdale is now retired, and penniless. Ana Veronica Hagan of El Paso, Texas, swindled that life savings, all $250,000 of it.

In Linn County Circuit Court on September 26, Hagan pled Guilty to one count of Criminal Mistreatment and two counts of Aggravated Theft. Hagan was sentenced to one month in prison for the elderly abuse plea, and to two consecutive 21 month prison terms for the theft counts.

Hagan will do three and a half years in prison. the minimum for these crimes.

This was a negotiated plea, and the sentence also includes restitution, and a clause stating Hagan is never to care for elderly again. After prison, Hagan will be on probation for three years.

Anna Hagan confers with her attorney 9-26-2014.

Hagan's record includes domestic files, and a Burglary conviction.

Most of the money that Hagan stole from Barksdale, went to gambling. A forensic scientist was able to track Hagan's spending, and the casino losses were in excess of $233,000. 

Hagan, in a statement, told the court that she suffered from cocaine addiction.

Central Willamette Credit Union noticed odd activity in the victim's accounts, sometime in September 2011, and alerted police. The investigation took more than three years.

After some 2000 pages of reports, Hagan made a deal. Linn Circuit Court Judge Bispham agreed with the plea deal, but said that the court thought Hagan deserved a harsher sentence. "What you did to the victim, was not a mistake, it was repeated and calculated." Prosecutor Jonathan Crow said, "It is doubtful Hagan even pays back ten percent of the theft."

A representative of the victim read a statement, and in that statement, Barksdale told the court of how hard she had worked to save money. "I wanted to provide a comfortable life for my disabled son and his wife," Barksdale said, "and now that is gone."