Sacramento judge rejects more breaks for movie studio con artist out of prison on early release
Carissa Carpenter won’t be hitting the clubs with her musician boyfriend any time soon, and won’t be getting a break on the $3.6 million she owes the investors she swindled.
Carpenter, the 58-year-old con artist who stole millions while peddling her vision of building a huge Northern California movie studio for more than a decade, asked a federal judge in December to eliminate the terms of her home confinement while she is on early release from prison.
She argued that she needs to be able to exercise more and accompany her partner to music gigs so she doesn’t have a medical emergency alone in his Big Bear home while he is out, and added that her restitution payments of $200 a month are too burdensome.
Prosecutors and Carpenter’s victims opposed her request vehemently, saying she already is allowed out of the house 24 hours a week, has permission to see her doctors and attend church, and has plenty of time to exercise.
This week, U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley sided with the government and the victims, denying her requests in a five-page order.
Nunley wrote that Carpenter’s crimes — which he described as “a long-running fraud scheme that victimized dozens of investors who trusted defendant with millions of dollars” — and Carpenter’s nature and characteristics — which he said include “lying to federal agents and violation of bond conditions” — preclude him from giving her a break.
“Defendant has not shown that she is significantly impeded in getting needed exercise,” Nunley wrote. “To the contrary, it appears defendant has sufficient opportunities to exercise during the substantial amount of time she is allowed to leave her home, or within the area of her home and yard during the time she is not allowed to leave.
“Indeed, the pictures of her home defendant submits in her reply show that she has sufficient space to exercise — even though it may not be the type of exercise she prefers. As to defendant’s inability to be left alone when her partner needs to leave the home, defendant has not persuaded the court that she has no other options to remain safe than to accompany her partner wherever he goes.”
The judge also rejected her contention that her $200 a month restitution payments, which come out of her $1,597 in monthly Social Security payments, are too onerous.
“Defendant has not persuaded the court that she is unable to pay $200 a month toward restitution,” Nunley wrote.
Carpenter, whose scheme was unraveled by a 2013 Sacramento Bee investigation, was sentenced in November 2018 to six and one-half years in prison in 2018 and three years of supervised release, with a projected release date of February 2023.
She won early release in October 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic but was ordered to remain in home confinement with electronic monitoring except for forays to go to work, see doctors or other visits approved by her probation officer.
Carpenter’s requests for relief prompted backlash from some of her victims, who wrote to the court urging Nunley not to cut her a break.
“Please, please do not dishonor my father any more by granting her motion,” wrote the daughter of a victim who died broke last September after losing his retirement account to Carpenter. “She needs to pay what she owes.
“Please, in the name of every person victimized by this narcissistic sociopath, do not lessen one second or one penny of her sentence.”