Tom DiBartolo, former Spokane sheriff’s deputy who killed wife, jailed after work-release suspension
Former Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Tom DiBartolo, 64, who was convicted of killing his wife, Patty DiBartolo, in 1997, was jailed in Yakima Monday afternoon after his work release was suspended.
He began serving the sentence at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton and was later transferred to a prison on the East Coast. He was slated to be released after 20 years at the earliest with good behavior.
DiBartolo was transferred to the Ahtanum View work release facility in Yakima County on Aug. 27. The facility houses both men and women.
He was accused of staging the killing as an attack by robbers at Lincoln Park by shooting his wife with her own gun, then wounding himself to avoid an expensive divorce. His oldest children testified that he deserved 50 years in prison.
DiBartolo has maintained his innocence and lost multiple appeals for a new trial and to overturn his conviction. He also agreed to pay his children $1 million in damages in a wrongful death suit.
He was last scheduled to be released from prison in February 2020, according to Department of Corrections records.