Former care home boss Thelma Hitchiner was jailed for two years on Friday for stealing £16,000 from residents in a Clacton care home.
The judge at Chelmsford Crown Court told Hitchiner, 54, she was a "thoroughly dishonest and callous woman".
Hitchiner, of Spencer Road, Clacton, was led from the dock in tears after sentence.
She denied but was convicted of four charges of theft.
The court heard Hitchiner stole money from residents at the Green Gables, Carnarvon Road, Clacton, over nine years.
But the court heard today how Hitchiner should not have been in the job as she was not qualified.
At the time she had financial problems, said Lindsay Cox, mitigating.
Judge Gareth Hawkesworth told Hitchiner: "The elderly have a right to be protected from distressful behaviour like this."
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