Two Sides to the Nancy Salzman Prison Delay — to Care for Elderly Mother

There are some who think the judge as too lenient.

In our post, Judge Garaufis Grants Nancy Salzman One Month Delay to Report to Prison – Now will Surrender Feb. 21, Unless Further Delay Is Granted, we reported that Nancy Salzman got a month delay to report to prison camp – an extension to February 21st.

Her reasons were (a) that COVID was rampant at the prison camp where she has been assigned to serve her 42-month sentence at camp – and (b) that she is needed to help care for her mother, Lorraine Loshin, who has recently suffered a severe physical decline (Loshin recently fell and sustained an orbit fracture). Loshin is scheduled to undergo a procedure on the sane day that Nancy was due to report to FPC Alderson.

Nancy’s attorney’s letter to the judge  states “Ms. Salzman’s 94 year old mother’s condition is rapidly deteriorating, and the prognosis is dire and unlikely to change….

“[S]he has recently become a resident of a New Jersey assisted living facility, which is chronically under-staffed due to the COVID surge, and other structural staffing obstacles. Her mother is supposed to be awakened once every several hours to
use the toilet, but on Tuesday of this week she got out of bed herself due to not being properly attended and fell forward on her face….

“[T]he fractured orbit she suffered… is causing substantial hindrance to the functioning of her sinuses and ability to breathe. An appointment at an off-site medical facility is scheduled for Wednesday, January 19…  for imaging and evaluation, and Ms. Salzman would very much like to attend. If she and her daughter leave for Alderson on January 18, no family member will be able to go with Nancy’s mother to the medical appointment, and Ms. Salzman does not trust staff at the facility, and knows the level of extreme distress her mother will experience if her daughter is not present to care for her, help her, and simply be present with her.”

Several readers found this statement concerning.  They think Nancy is using her mother as an excuse to stay out of prison – and that other family members might accompany her mother to the January 19th medical appointment.

Nancy’s sister, for example, Carole Kass, who lives close to her mother or Carole’s husband, Steve Kass, the CEO of Tofutti ice cream products, based in Cranford, NJ, where Lorraine lives, might be tapped for duty, as could any of Lorraine’s six grandchildren, NJ., two by Nancy and four by Carol.

The grandchildren are Jaclyn B. Kass, Melanie G. Kass, Elliot L. Kass, Marley D. Kass, Lauren Salzman, and Michelle Salzman-Myers. All of them are over age 40.

A few more facts:

• Alderman allows inmates to leave camp for funerals of immediate family members. It is unclear if they permit inmates to help the still living family members.
• Nancy lost her nursing license by virtue of the fact that she pled guilty to a felony. a
• Nancy has a YouTube impersonator — Amy Philips
• Lorraine Loshin and her husband took a couple of NXIVM courses during the early days of NXIVM. Keith Raniere gave a talk with both of them present in the room, along with Edgar Boone’s parents.
• Nancy’s father, Milton Loshin, passed away on August 15, 2021.

Submitted to the court in connection with Nancy’s sentencing were letters from Milton and Lorraine asking for leniency for their daughter. Both were dated July 4, 2021. Milton died six weeks after the letter was dated.

Milton wrote, “My wife’s needs have increased due to increasing forgetfulness.”

Nancy’s daughter, Lauren Salzman, in her letter of support for her mom, wrote last year, “My grandma is in the midst of declining mental health. She has lit fires in her home several times. She has fallen and cut her head open twice. She requires round the clock care and can’t be left unsupervised. She now often forgets who we are and how we’re related to her.”

Here is Lorraine’s letter to the judge about her daughter.

My name is Lorraine Loshin. I am Nancy Salzman’s mother. I am 92 years old. I would like to share some things about my daughter that I hope you will consider in your evaluation of her. From the time Nancy was a little girl she was a caring person who always wanted to help those around her. She started caring for me when she was 6 years old and I was bedridden for 3 weeks. She got up each morning and emptied my bedpan and brought me food. It was no surprise that she chose to go to nursing school.

In the last 3 years, as we began to age and things started to slip around the house, Nancy noticed and stepped in. She began shopping with me and cooking for us, taking both of us to our doctor’s appointments helping with medical decisions and doing our book keeping.

As my husband’s health began to fail, Nancy spent more and more time with us, taking him to his doctor’s appointments and administering his medications. In June of 2020 when my husband had pneumonia, Nancy was here in those critical moments and she called an ambulance. He was having a heart attack in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. This decision actually saved his life. They admitted him to the cardiac lab and performed a procedure where they inserted 2 stents.

Nancy has been with us almost continuously for the last 18 months. 

When my husband feels anxious he calls for her, she has a calming effect on him. She takes care of all of our needs, shopping, cooking, giving my husband nursing care and she provides all the information that we wouldn’t know how to do. She solves all of our problems. We wouldn’t have been about to stay in our home of 70 years if not for Nancy and all she has done. This was our wish, to stay in our own home and not go to a facility.

I love my daughter very much and would ask for you to give her any consideration you can so that she can stay with us and continue to provide a loving environment. I do not believe we can survive without her help at this juncture of our lives.

Thank you in advance for your consideration. I believe my Nancy is one in a million.
Sincerely,

Lorraine Loshin

***

In Nancy’s sentencing memorandum:,  her attorney writes, “Now Nancy cares for her mother, whose mental health has failed precipitously recently (her letter was written in late 2020 when she was still able to comprehend and to express herself in a way that would not be possible today). Nancy’s mother is alone. She is frail and confused and looks to Nancy for her every need. Ms. Loshin is extremely anxious when she does not see her daughter and would be gravely impacted by her incarceration.”

A conflict about dates about the letter from Lorraine occurred in the sentencing memorandum.

As mentioned above, Lorraine’s letter is dated July 4, 2021, but her attorney told the judge Lorraine wrote it in late 2020 when she could still comprehend and write or speak intelligibly.

Regardless of inconsistencies, it seems clear that Lorraine Loshin is in distress, perhaps she does not even recognize Nancy as her daughter anymore. Yet, it is fair to say that even the extremely elderly may receive comfort from those who love them.

In my opinion, little harm is done by granting an extension, not so much for Nancy but for that it might bring some comfort to a woman nearing the end of her sojourn, who won’t have many more trips to the hospital, or days with her daughter. This might be the last time Nancy might do a service to her mother.

I also understand the opposite position, articulated well by Susan Dones, who spoke as a victim of Nancy at her sentencing, travelling all the way from Washington State to do so.

Dones said, “At some point, the judge needs to allow all of us to have our justice. He can’t keep putting this off. I believe Nancy planned this all along.”

Perhaps she did. Judge Garaufis also gave her the opportunity at her sentencing to ask for time extensions. He said she was to report to prison on January 18 but added that should she need more time to transition from being the caretaker for her mother that she was free to request more time.

She has, and he has granted it.

I understand the need for those who were victimized to see her begin to serve her sentence. I understand Nancy is not likely to escape her sentence and will begin serving it sometime in the near future. I can even understand she might just as well start serving it sooner rather than later to get it over with.

On the other hand, if things are as bad at FPC Alderson as Nancy’s attorneys say they are, based on media reports, I can well understand not wanting to rush in only to be placed on lockdown because of COVID.

These are not pleasant days for the Prefect, the woman who once lived the high life of a high priestess of the Raniere cult. She now is a subject of the government, disgraced and suffering physically herself and facing more than three years in custody.

The glamor is off the life of Nancy Salzman – and it is altogether possible it will not return.

Frank Parlato