Judge: Colorado woman's neglect at hands of her son, his girlfriend, "so horrible, so tortuous"

A Lakewood man and his girlfriend were recently sentenced for the death of the man's mother. They were the disabled woman's caregivers for seven years due to her deteriorating health. 

That care, however, dwindled into neglect in the final months of the woman's life as the two pocketed thousands of dollars and supported a drug habit, according to prosecutors. 

The girlfriend, 55-year-old Laura Prats, received an 11-year sentence Thursday. Prats previously pleaded guilty last year to Negligent Death of an At-Risk Person, a Class 4 felony. 

Brian Seitz, 37, pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced in December to 10 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. 

That charge normally carries a prison term between two and six years, according to state statutes. But prosecutors asked the judge in the case to find "extraordinary aggravation" in the case, doubling the standard prison term. 

"The pain must've been unimaginable for Ms. Seitz," stated Chief Deputy District Attorney for Jefferson County Bryan Cook in court, according to a press release from the First Judicial District Attorney's Office. "Ms. Seitz was totally dependent on her care providers, and that made her vulnerable to being neglected."  

Jefferson County District Court Judge Jason Carrithers agreed with prosecutors. 

"A two-to-six-year range for criminally neglecting an individual to the point of death is insulting," Carrithers said, according to the same press release. "It's insulting to their lives and the lives of their loved ones."    

Additionally, Carrithers said "the facts of how she died are so prolonged, so calculated, so horrific, and so torturous." 

Sheryl Seitz suffered from arthritis, was legally blind and struggled with mobility, according to case documents. Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies were fjrst called to her home in December 2023. Sietz's home at that time was an RV parked on an RV storage lot on West 56th Avenue. Adult Protective Services personnel were then concerned about her well-being. According to a case document, those personnel described her motor home as unclean, unheated, and without a bed. 

Sheryl Seitz was taken to the hospital at that time by ambulance (due to her immobility), but the case document described no injuries nor treatment. 

Two days later, deputies and APS staff visited the RV and found it to be well organized and heated. Sheryl Seitz had availability to fluids, medications, a TV and a Life Alert system. 

Satisfied, deputies and APS staff closed those investigations. 

But six months later, Brian Seitz called 9-1-1 and said, "Mom has maggots on her and needs medical attention." 

From there, Brian Seitz's arrest affidavit provides dark details of Sheryl Seitz's medical condition. The woman had not had her diaper changed nor been bathed in a month. She had been moved from the motor home to a garage where she was found on an air mattress on top of a box spring. At the hospital, doctors confirmed maggots were "burrowing" into Sheryl's body. They also found two hip fractures, bed sores, and a wrist injury. She was in septic shock.

Sheryl passed away the next day. She was 58 years old.

Investigators learned from several sources, including hospital staff, that Sheryl Seitz disliked going to the hospital. Brian Seitz also told investigators his mother did not want her diaper changed. Laura Prats told investigators the same, and that Sheryl wanted to stay at home with her family.

But the couple never called anyone for help.

This, as the two were being paid $4,400 per month by a home healthcare company to care for Sheryl Seitz 83 hours every week.

When investigators returned to the garage, it had been sprayed out by hose. The driveway was still wet,  according to the affidavit. Investigators found video recordings from a security camera which showed Brian Seitz opening the garage prior to their arrival while wearing a protective body suit. 

When asked by an investigator if she and Brian Seitz could've taken better care of his mother, Prats replied, "Oh my God yes," according to the affidavit. 

In court Thursday, Prats said, "I loved Sheryl more than anything," but the last four months of her care "went awry," according to the DA's press release. Prats told the court that every time she wanted to call an ambulance, Sheryl Seitz would get angry. "I'm not a horrible person; I'm not a murderer. I have such remorse for what I've done," Prats added.

Judge Carrithers expressed disbelief, according to the DA's press release, that Prats was approved for caregiver status by the state. Prats was sentenced to probation after a 2017 drug arrest in Denver and subsequent plea deal. 

"There's just no oversight over that process…and it resulted in death."