You won't find a neutral voice in the nearly 80 letters written on behalf of and against Leland businessman John Sisson, who was sentenced Friday to a maximum jail term for embezzling money from an elderly lady he had taken in as family.

An overwhelming majority of letters praised Sisson’s compassion and community involvement. But some letters took the owner of Sisson’s Mainstreet Market to task, asking District Court Judge Thomas J. Phillips to show no mercy — which, as measured by the sentence, he did not.

(Some letters were not available for public viewing while a Freedom of Information request filed by the Leelanau Enterprise was being processed.)

Sisson was sentenced to serve 365 days in the Leelanau County Jail — the most allowed for the misdemeanor crime of “embezzlement of $200 to $1,000 from a vulnerable adult.” He was also placed on 2 years probation, and has paid $50,000 in restitution to the 90-year-old victim, Berta Steinkamp.

The restitution money was loaned to Sisson, whose businesses have come on hard times in recent years, by friends and family.

The strict sentence was requested by Steinkamp’s neighbors,

“Elder abuse is a mean-spirited crime,” wrote Georgia Rivers, who also lives on Oxford Drive. “It involves taking advantage of someone who has the least resistance. I know that Berta Steinkamp cherished her relationship with the Sissons and John Sisson took advantage of that. He took the friendship and trust of an old woman, and he betrayed her.”

Neighbor Martha Mothershead wrote that Sisson “isolated” Steinkamp from neighbors.

“In the short time (John Sisson) lived in her home, I witnessed her become increasingly isolated, to the point she no longer drove a car and rarely ventured outside. Before that she had been an active and vital woman who walked her dog daily and loved to chat with neighbors,” Mothershead wrote.

Richard Rossman, a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, described his neighbor’s plight.

“We were out of town when Mr. Sisson put Ms. Steinkamp in the Northport facility, but when we asked where she was, he told us but that she did not want any visitors and we should not attempt to contact her . . . We were surprised as it was our understanding that the rationale for the Sissons moving into her home was so they could take care of her.”

The John Sisson described in those letters seems like an entirely different man from those written in support of him. Included were many community and business leaders, former employees and three pastors from churches other than his own.

Matthew Hill was kitchen manager when Sisson owned the Leelanau Country Inn, a historic restaurant and inn near Little Traverse Lake. Hill’s wife died of cancer in December. He wrote, “During those 82 days of hell, John and Linda (Sisson) were there for my son and I. John helped with Hospice and other arrangements and all the while he was helping me he had this looming black cloud over himself.”

Patricia Steffens took over as treasurer of Leland Immanual Lutheran Church for Sisson, and found the books in “excellent order” with all monies accounted for. She wrote, “I felt that John and Linda took care of Berna as if she were their mother. They made sure she was in church every Sunday and saw she was at other church functions. They are caring and loving people. This family has suffered much over the present situation and I do not feel that a jail sentence would be appropriate.”

Sisson’s brother-in-law, Glen Peterson, believes John Sisson stepped up to take care of an elderly woman who had no other family in America, and Steinkamp was appreciative until she was taken to a long-term care center in Northport. “I was at the family event when Berna announced she was giving her house to John and Linda, and I was in complete support of her decision in light of all the things I’ve seen John and Linda do for her over the years,” he wrote.

Support letters came from many walks in life. Wrote Glen Lake teacher Don Miller, “I am sure his time served and his public embarrassment, along with the settlement, are punishment enough.”
Two letters are indicative of how much distance in opinion separates Sisson’s supporters and detractors.

Wrote Devon Sprandel: “I am very puzzled as to why he is in jail. He has suffered so much already from this ordeal. He does not deserve any more punishment.”

And wrote Janet Carlson: “I say a year in jail is the least John Sisson should serve for his theft from Berta and his mental abuse of her.”