Judge hands down sentencing in frying

    A Ventura woman was sentenced  to four consecutive 10-year prison terms for striking her mother with a frying pan and reporting to authorities that she was murdered.  
    Valerie Hasbrouck, 47, was initally charged with attempted murder; she later pleaded guilty to four counts of willful injury.  Willful injury is a Class C felony which carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
    Monday, Judge John S. Mackey sentenced Hasbrouck  to four consecutive independent terms not to exceed 10 years. The consecutive sentences were representative of the separate blows Hasbrouck inflicted upon her mother, the judge noted.  Restitution of $2,650 to cover her mother’s medical costs while hospitalized and anger management treatment were also included in the sentence.
    “I have deep regrets and I’ll have to live with them and I hope to make some changes,” Hasbrouck told the court.
    According to authorities, Hasbrouck attacked her mother, 81-year-old Tressa Waddingham, on Dec. 3. 2007, at the mother’s rural Ventura home. Authorities say Hasbrouck struck her mother four times with a cast-iron frying pan. Waddingham, was knocked to the ground during the attack.  She told authorities she played dead, holding her breath when her daughter came near her.  Meanwhile, Hasbrouck arranged her mother’s house to look like it had been burglarized and then called 911, authorities said.
    During her 911 call Hasbrouck told authorities that she had just come to the house at 1:55 p.m. and that she found the house burglarized and her mother dead.
    When authorities arrived, Waddingham wasn’t dead and she identified her daughter as the person who had attacked her, stated the complaint filed in Hancock County District Court.
    Waddingham read a letter as a witness impact statement, noting it was intended for the court and Valerie.  She recounted the gift of land she and her husband made to Valerie after she expressed her wishes to live near them.  “Her dad and I thanked her many times for being there when our health was critical,” she read.
    The letter went on to state that Valerie had told her mother she would be bringing a casserole to the house Dec. 3 and the meeting was something she was looking forward to.  “I baked her favorite cookies thinking we could have cookies together.  That didn’t happen.  That was not her plan.”