An Arvada woman has been sentenced to 208 years in prison after shoving an 88-year-old man down a flight of stairs, tearing skin off his arms and stealing his car.
Jana Bergman, 33, was convicted in October of attempted manslaughter, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, robbery of an at-risk adult and menacing, among other violence-related charges.
Bergman repeatedly assaulted Jack Woods. The first time, in January 2014, she attacked him after she answered an advertisement for a housekeeper.
Bergman Woods would bail her out of jail after she was arrested. She wrote him letters saying she loved him, according to a news release by Pam Russell, spokeswoman for District Attorney Pete Weir.
“This is an extraordinary sentence, but the brutal assault on Mr. Woods is almost beyond belief,” Weir said. “Over time, Jana Bergman preyed on this fragile, vulnerable man to get what she wanted, and when she was finished with him she threw him down the stairs to get rid of him.”
Woods spent $12,000 on bail payments for Bergman. He used his house as collateral to get her out of jail at one point, the news release says. When Bergman was angry she would take his car and disappear for days at a time.
On Nov. 10, 2014, Bergman pushed and kicked Woods down the stairs of his home. She then held him down with her knee and took his wallet and keys. She stole his car and fled.
Woods suffered . Bergman ripped the skin off of his forearms.
Bergman has four prior felony convictions. On Nov. 9, she was also convicted of being a sexual offender.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, kmitchell@denverpost.com or @kirkmitchell or denverpost.com/coldcases
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Updated May 26, 2016 at 5:06 p.m. The following corrected information has been added to this article: This online archive has been updated to reflect the following correction. Due to inaccurate information from a source, the details of a conviction were wrong. Bergman was convicted of being a habitual offender.
