Woman, 73, receives six years in prison for bilking $100,000 from octogenarian

A 73-year-old woman has been sentenced to six years in prison for defrauding $100,000 from an octogenarian, a man who had sought her help with filing his taxes.

Carol Klimmer was sentenced Thursday in Broomfield District Court, according to a district attorney’s office news release. Klimmer pleaded guilty in May to one count of securities fraud.

In 2014, Klimmer, working as a self-employed bookkeeper and accountant, accepted $100,000 from an 81-year-old Broomfield man, claiming she would invest the money in a one-year, nontaxable account. After multiple attempts by the victim and his attorney to get the money back, he received only $6,000, the news release said.

The victim, who is married, said the incident “ruined us. We had to take out a mortgage on our house just to get by.” The couple had planned to retire comfortably, but after the incident they could no longer maintain their home and were having difficulties paying medical bills.

When Klimmer pleaded guilty in May, she was sentenced to six years in community corrections and was ordered to pay back more than $150,000 in restitution.

Klimmer’s community corrections sentence was revoked when she failed to meet a number of conditions, including failure to pay restitution.

The six-year prison term handed down Thursday by District Court Judge Michael Goodbee was the maximum sentence. Klimmer was also sentenced to five years of parole upon her release from prison.