MONROE — Before her sentencing earlier this month in Green County Circuit Court, friends and family of a New Glarus woman convicted of theft submitted letters to the court attesting to her good character.

Mary Sue Way, 61, stole more than $21,000 from an elderly man over the course of several years, according to the criminal complaint against her.

Friends and family described the situation, and Way’s relationship to the man, differently.

“The gentleman that Mary was providing care for was so blessed in many ways to have Mary in his life. It takes a very special person to care for an elderly person,” a former classmate wrote.

The man was always included in family holidays and gatherings at the Way home and “had a much fuller life with Mary and her family in it,” another friend wrote.

Way’s brother wrote that the man “became a part of our family” and “depended on Mary and her husband, Doug, for pretty much everything.”

“I feel Mary is being portrayed in an incorrect manner,” her brother wrote. “She has suffered through this entire mess and wants it to end. Mary has a good heart and still mourns the loss of her dear friend.”

A police investigation found that Way used the man’s money for her personal benefit without his consent from 2014 to 2016. The criminal complaint alleges her thefts totaled $21,860.94.

Victim-impact statements were filed with the court in April but were not made public.

According to police reports, Way said she and her husband met the man years earlier at a restaurant and bar in New Glarus. She described the man as being “kind of a loner and kind of a follower,” but they all became “really good friends” and “pretty much took him under their wing.”

He needed her help, she told police. He was drinking and smoking heavily, suffered mental illnesses, didn’t take his medications and had no family to help him. She said she did his grocery shopping, cleaning and laundry, then became his power of attorney when he was given a few months to live and needed 24-hour care at a local nursing home.

When it came to his money, she claimed he told her “if you need it, whatever you want, it’s yours.”

When asked if she had ever taken any of his money for her personal gain, she replied, “Yes, and he knew everything about it.” Her husband was laid off for six months “so we probably struggled with our house payment for a little bit.”

But the police investigation concluded Way had withdrawn or otherwise accessed significant amounts of the man’s money for her own benefit and he did not consent to it.

Way pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of theft and was sentenced June 12 to two years on probation with a conditional six months in jail.

She also entered a two-year deferred prosecution agreement on a Class G felony charge of theft of more than $10,000 in a business setting. The felony charge will be fully dismissed if she complies with the agreement.

An additional felony theft charge and three felony counts of misappropriating ID info were dismissed from the case at her plea hearing in April.

She owes $26,382.68 in court assessments, the majority of which is restitution.