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A Vernal woman who tried to poison her landlord by putting anti-freeze in his smoothie has been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
Selena Irene York, 34, was sentenced Tuesday in 8th District Court to three consecutive terms of up to five years for the September 2008 attack.
According to court documents, 78-year-old Edward Zurbuchen complained of dizziness and numbness in his face when he was admitted to Ashley Valley Medical Center.
Doctors originally thought the man had suffered a stroke but later found ethylene glycol, the primary ingredient in antifreeze, in his system.
Zurbuchen "still suffers physical ailments from this," Uintah County prosecutor John Gothard said.
York later moved to Oregon with a man named Joseph Dominic Ferraro. The poisoning case went cold until April, when Ferraro wrote to Vernal police that York had bragged about the poisoning.
Ferraro said he came forward because York had forged power of attorney documents while he was in jail on an unrelated crime and drained his bank accounts, charging documents state.
Prosecutors say York forged her name as the beneficiary of his life insurance and took thousands from his bank accounts by using a stolen card.
In December, York entered an Alford plea to third-degree felony counts of aggravated assault, theft and forgery. With an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but concedes enough evidence exists to likely secure a conviction.
A number of York's family and friends wrote letters of support in advance of Tuesday's sentencing. York's defense attorney asked that the sentences for each count run concurrently. But Judge Clark McClellan ordered that each sentence run one after another.
"I think justice was served," Gothard said.