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Nurse's assistant gets jail time in death of woman

Associated Press - August 31, 2009 5:24 PM ET

WHEATON, Ill. (AP) - A nurse's assistant has pleaded guilty to criminal neglect and obstuction of justice in the death of an 89-year-old woman whose frozen body was found in a snowbank outside her suburban Chicago nursing home.

DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett on Monday announced that Judge Peter Dockery sentenced 24-year-old Heidi Leon of Bensenville to 180 days in jail for her role in the death of Sarah Wentworth.

Authorities say Leon didn't check on residents at The Arbor of Itasca after Wentworth's exit on Feb. 5 triggered a door alarm.

Wentworth was later found dead in a snowbank outside the nursing home.

Leon has been in custody at the DuPage County Jail since her arrest. Birkett says she will be released from custody Monday having served 181 days in jail satisfying her 180-day jail sentence.

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