A Florida woman who was working as a caretaker for a World War II veteran has been sentenced to 38 years in prison for beating him with his oxygen tank.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that 47-year-old Elena Erickson was sentenced this week. She was convicted in August of attempted murder and aggravated abuse of the elderly.
Authorities say Erickson hit 93-year-old Michael Tristiano in the head multiple times with the tank before leaving him on the floor to die in May 2016. Officials say she returned to the North Port home the next day, found him still alive and called paramedics.
Erickson initially denied any connection to the beating, but Tristiano later told detectives that Erickson hit him during an argument over her pay.
