VIRGINIA BEACH
Matthew Wiseman, a registered nurse who pilfered a dead patient’s credit card, was ordered to serve a month in jail on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old man, who pleaded guilty to credit card theft and credit card fraud, used the card of Michael Puopolo in March to buy a laptop computer hours after the 75-year-old man was pronounced dead at Sentara Bayside Hospital. On Wednesday, Circuit Judge A. Joseph Canada Jr. found Wiseman guilty of the two felonies and sentenced him to eight years in prison with all but 30 days suspended.
Wiseman was working in the emergency room when Puopolo was transported to the hospital. Puopolo was found slumped over in his car in the parking lot of a BJ’s Wholesale Club store, and was later pronounced dead of a heart attack.
Six hours after Puopolo died, Wiseman was captured on surveillance footage at a Best Buy store wearing his hospital scrubs and using the stolen Visa card to buy a $1,800 laptop computer, according to prosecutors.
Hospital workers identified him from the video and he was fired for violating Sentara’s ethics policy.
Duane Bourne, (757) 222-5150, duane.bourne@pilotonline.com
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just amazing....
a man gets only 30 days for 2 felonies?...what if the deceased man was still alive and could have testified?...would it have made a difference?...why are criminals not being punished properly?...a 30 days sentence minimizes what he did...wrong is wrong!...shame on the judicial system!
Pure greed:
This was just pure greed. He lost a good paying job, and got 30 days in jail. What a smuck.
Guilty of two felonies! 39 DAYS!
No wonder we have such a crime problem. The sentence should act as a deterrent to make others think before they commit the same crime. The judicial system needs to get in step with the average citizens. We (I consider myself average) are tired of the light sentences given to felons and of the repeated slap on the hand for repeat offenders. If the judges start making the punishment fit the crime, crime rates will drop.
Yes. I agree. Minimum 1
Yes. I agree. Minimum 1 year. I assume he paid Mrs. Puopolo for the laptop?
No Values, Respect
Some people today have no respect or values for anything. He should have at least received a year.
Should have had 30 years . . .
What a lowlife. He nearly frightened that widow to death when she got the report her husband's credit card was in use. Cheers, MGM
30 days?
Are you kidding me? He should have been made to serve the entire sentence!