Gambling sends Indiana woman to prison

Grandmother Genoa Sigerfoos, 57, traded her drug addiction for a gambling addiction. That problem sent her to prison for 19 months to 15 years for theft from a Sherwood Township home.

Branch County Circuit Court Judge Bill O'Grady asked her about drugs. Her LaGrange County, Ind., drug felony record went back 20 years.

"I've been clean since 2019," Sigerfoos said.

She served 210 days in jail there in 2021 for failure to appear and for a 2018 possession of meth.

"Normally we don't have 50-plus year ladies sitting here on home invasion charges," the judge said.

Prosecutor Zack Stempien asked for prison.

"Certainly, I think it's time in our community that we start to send a message. We're getting out of the COVID era. It's not OK to break into people's homes. It's not OK to steal. It does not belong to you," he said.

On her way back from a casino on Dec. 22, 2020, she broke through the front window of a home on Mendon Road. Sigerfoos took a .22 caliber loaded pistol. She also left with a pot full of change and an Instant Pot. The victim later recovered them.

Michigan State Police detectives were able to solve the theft case.

Sigerfoos admitted she took the items to cover gambling debts. The woman, who had both Indiana and Ohio addresses, pleaded guilty to a second-degree home invasion. There are three prior felony convictions for meth possession and four misdemeanors.

Sigerfoos told Judge O'Grady, "I'm changing my life."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Gambling sends Indiana woman to prison