Gloversville woman going to jail for keeping mother's decomposing body, collecting $14,000 in pension checks

A Mohawk Valley woman is going to jail for keeping her 93-year-old mother's corpse for over a year so she could cash her benefit checks.

Mary Kersting of Gloversville admitted in September that she cashed her mother's Social Security and pension checks totaling nearly $14,000 while the woman's body decomposed in an apartment downstairs.

Authorities say Hope Ruller died in October 2013 from unknown causes. Her 60-year-old daughter lived upstairs from her.

Kersting was sentenced in Fulton County Court on Friday to two six-month jail terms to be served concurrently. Then she'll also be on probation for five years and must do 500 hours of community service.