Staff photo by Dean Shalhoup Attorney Stephen Rosecan speaks with his client, Maryanne Jacobsmeyer, during her plea and sentencing hearing in Hillsborough County Superior Court South Wednesday. Jacobsmeyer was sentenced to at least 10 years in state prison.

NASHUA – Maryanne Jacobsmeyer will serve at least the next 10 years in state prison, and possibly more if she misbehaves, as the result of a plea agreement she reached Wednesday on the string of felony charges stemming from the June home invasion in which she tied up, blindfolded and terrorized a 92-year-old man in his Nashua home.

But the fact that Jacobsmeyer, 51, was handcuffed, led from the courtroom in custody, loaded into a transport van and driven to the place she will spend at least the next decade didn’t do much to lift the sense of fear and apprehension that left the elderly man feeling like “a prisoner in my own home.”

What was originally scheduled as a hearing on defense motions to suppress certain evidence in the case became a plea and sentencing hearing sometime Wednesday morning, after the attorneys notified the court they’d arrived at an agreement and were ready to present it to the judge.

Jacobsmeyer, who lived in Nashua’s French Hill section not far from the North End home she targeted in June, agreed to plead guilty to seven of the 10 charges on which she was indicted in August.

The stand-committed sentence of 10-21 years in prison stems from the most serious of the charges – armed robbery, an extended-term felony – minus the 161 days that Jacobsmeyer has spent in jail.

One year of the maximum sentence is suspended for 10 years after her release, on condition of good behavior and compliance with all sentencing orders.

She also agreed to be put on parole for 10 years following her release.

On the charges of burglary and criminal restraint, Jacobsmeyer was sentenced to 3-6 years in prison, stand committed, to run concurrent with, meaning at the same

time as, the 10-21 year sentence.

On the charges of falsifying physical evidence, theft by unauthorized taking and theft by deception, she was given a prison sentence of 31/2-7 years, all suspended for five years after her release.

And on the charge of operating a vehicle as a habitual offender, she was sentenced to 21/2 -5 years in prison, all suspended for five years after

release.

Jacobsmeyer also agreed to pay in restitution roughly $500 to the woman whose purse she stole in March, a case unreleated to the home invasion; about $750 to the two banks she withdrew money from using the victim’s credit cards; $490 to Kohl’s; and about $500 to the victim.

She also is prohibited from having any contact with the victim or members of his family.

Two of his family members were in court Wednesday, but elected not to address the

court.

The victim, who turns 93 later this month, was not present, but wrote a victim impact statement that state victims advocate Cindy Lillibridge read to the court.

“I have lived fearlessly at the same residence for more than 50 years … that’s no longer the case,” he wrote. “Life for me and my family changed dramatically on June 8, when my home was invaded and I was made the victim of an egregious crime.”

The seven months since the incident have been devoted in large part to increasing security at the home, he noted, which included the painful decision to “cut down bushes … bushes that my (late) wife always loved.”

A security system has been installed, but, he wrote, he still “can’t open the windows or doors to let fresh air in – because someone might walk in.”

He no longer takes naps on his back porch, he wrote, “because that’s how the person came into my house … .”

His “once-safe, family friendly neighborhood is no longer safe,” the man wrote. “We always looked out for each other – not in a fearful way, but in a neighborly way. That’s no longer the case.”

Attorney Stephen Rosecan, Jacobsmeyer’s public defender, said his client “feels remorse over this matter,” and although she has a lengthy record, it’s “not of this nature.”

Rosecan said Jacobsmeyer agreed to the plea deal because “she didn’t want the victim to go through a trial, because of his age.”

But Assistant County Attorney Lisa Drescher, who prosecuted the case, said investigators determined the man’s advanced age was among the reasons Jacobsmeyer targeted him.

“She knew his age … she admitted to waiting for him in the bedroom,” Drescher said, referring to the incident.

Among the observers were several Nashua police officers and detectives who worked the case.

Judge Charles Temple, before pronouncing sentence, praised the officers for their work.

“Your investigation of this crime was of the utmost importance to this family and the neighborhood,” Temple said. “I commend you for your work” in solving it.

The judge also told the victim’s two family members that “having you in my courtroom today, in support of your dad, is an honor … I can’t imagine my dad having that

experience.”

“Fifty years in the same house, then … stripped away in a moment of terror. I just can’t imagine.”

The victim, toward the end of his statement, wrote that his “only, and biggest, question is why … why did you target, and single out me?

“If someone would do this to a 92-year-old man,” he wrote, “who’s next?”

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-1256, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.

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