A judge said Monday he had little choice but to offer leniency to an Indiana County woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year for her role in a series of catalytic converter thefts throughout Westmoreland County. Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears said the prospect of having three young children placed in foster care outweighed the need to incarcerate the woman police claimed was the ringleader of the group responsible for nearly $140,000 in equipment stolen from vehicles over the past year. “I almost think I have to give this defendant a lenient sentence although I am not sure she deserves it,” Mears said during a hearing for Debbra Lynn McAdams of Homer City.
“There is no reason to sentence the defendant to anything less than state prison except the defendant’s life is the not the only life affected. There are three little girls with no place to go so I am going to show mercy to the children. I don’t know if the defendant deserves mercy, but those children do.
” McAdams, who according to court records has dozens of prior convictions for theft and other offenses dating back two decades, is the adoptive mother of three young girls, ages 4, 10 and 11. She told the judge there are no other family members who can care for the children if she were to go to prison. “I am really trying to change.
I have three beautiful little girls, and I need them as much as they needed me when my husband died. I just want to continue taking care of them. I promise you I will never be be.