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Mom gets jail time for pulling scam with son She claims those falls she took really did hurt her By DANI DODGE The matronly half of a mother-son scam team was sentenced to six months in jail Monday for her part in their slip-and-fall scheme. Susan Ruth Pridy, 50, of Roseburg pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree theft Monday before Judge Patricia Crain. "You are getting kind of old to be facing a judge and time in a penitentiary," Crain said. "I don't know what is going on with you, but whatever it is, it isn't good." Pridy declined comment in court, but later blamed "bad blood" in the family for the trouble she's gotten into. She said the family member who turned her and her son over to police was out to get her son, Donald Lee Anderson. Pridy also insisted she actually was hurt in the falls. Anderson, 20, pleaded guilty two weeks ago to two cases of first-degree theft and was sentenced to 13 months in prison. Police say the duo's crime spree began in November 1998, when they targeted Oil Shop in Medford. Anderson was working there at the time and on Nov. 16 Pridy pulled her car into the shop. Anderson poured anti-freeze by her car door, said Deputy District Attorney Matt Chancellor. She slipped and fell. "He yelled, 'Some old lady fell out here,' " Chancellor said. Anderson declined at the time to disclose that the "old lady" was his mom. According to court documents, Pridy also had falls at Albertson's in Ashland and Eastside Select Market in Medford. Pridy's attorney, Vance Waliser, said he scratches his head when he considers this case. Prior to 1998, Pridy had no criminal convictions of any kind. But in December 1998, she was convicted of first-degree theft. In June 1999, she was convicted of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and hindering prosecution. Now, she has another first-degree theft charge on her record. And, Pridy and her son have to pay back the $6,507 they scammed from insurance companies after their bogus falls. In court, Pridy said she wanted to apply for home detention instead of spending the six months in county jail because she cares for her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Crain warned Pridy that if she's involved in any more scams, she's looking at doing time in prison. "You understand that you just skated going to the institution this time ... that's where your son is," Crain said. "Then who would watch your mom?" Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.