Diane McCloud, Long Island Woman, Denied Heart Transplant After Stealing from CVS

Earlier this year, Judge Francis Ricigliano showed sympathy for ailing 47 year-old Diane McCloud, who was serving 15-months in jail for petit larceny. He suspended her sentence in order for her to get on a heart transplant waiting list. The Daily News reports that McCloud appeared in front of Ricigliano again this Friday for stealing $500 worth of items from a CVS in July. The Judge rescinded the original suspension and sent her back to jail, tacking on an additional 6 months to her prior 15-month sentence. While in jail, McCloud won’t be eligible for Medicaid, which means her hopes of getting a heart transplant are over.

After Judge Ricigliano initially let Diane McCloud out of her original petit larceny sentence, earned in January, he was angered to learn she still smoked cigarettes despite having end-stage heart disease. “I will resentence you to the maximum amount of jail, without any problem,” Ricigliano told McCloud at the time.

She appeared in court Friday to give the Judge an affidavit saying she was cigarette-free and participating in a smoking cessation program. Instead, she pleaded guilty to stealing items including diet pills and whitening strips from a CVS in July and was tossed back in jail.

“The heart transplant is off the table,” said Leonard Isaacs, McCloud’s lawyer, “I don’t know if she can medically survive another year. I hope she does, but it looks bleak.”

“It’s not the judge’s fault,” Isaacs said, “He was kind by giving her an opportunity to get a heart transplant.”