Charter Communications has been ordered to pay over $7 billion in damages to the family of Betty Thomas. The 83-year-old Texas grandmother was stabbed to death in her home by a Spectrum employee after a robbery gone wrong.
According to police, Roy James Holden, an installer for Spectrum, had performed work at Betty’s home in Irving in December 2019. Roy returned the next day in uniform, posing as if he was on the job, and killed her. Prosecutors say he then took her cards and used them for a shopping spree.
Roy pleaded guilty to Betty’s murder and was sentenced to life in prison. According to Betty’s attorneys, Roy had lied about his past jobs, and Charter hadn’t verified his employment. They argued that if the company has done so and discovered the lie, he would have been disqualified from being hired.
