Jeffrey Kittredge Sr. of Montpelier was sentenced Wednesday to three to five years in prison and five years of probation in the death of his severely disabled 20-year-old son, Jeffrey Kittredge Jr., the Vermont Attorney General’s office announced Thursday. All but 18 months of the sentence are suspended, the announcement said.
The younger Kittredge, who suffered from multiple medical conditions and reportedly needed 24-hour care, died from septic shock from bedsores in 2016.
The elder Kittredge and his then-romantic partner, Jennifer Cote, were listed as his son’s caregivers and guardians at the time of his death, as reported by the Times Argus.
Kittredge pleaded guilty in March at the Washington County criminal court in Barre to two felony counts: neglect of a vulnerable adult and Medicaid fraud.
He was also sentenced for endorsing a fraudulent timesheet submitted by Cote. Cote, a former licensed nursing assistant, misrepresented providing certain hours of care that she had not.
The couple also missed more than eight scheduled appointments for the younger Kittredge and neglected requesting treatment for ulcers on his skin, which became infected and eventually caused his death.
Cote, who married the elder Kittredge in 2019, received a one- to three-year sentence on the same charges in January 2021.
Both cases were jointly investigated by the Montpelier Police Department and the Vermont Attorney General’s Medicaid fraud unit.
