Sentencing to resume next week for Pa. abduction hoax mom
The Pennsylvania woman who stole as much as $1 million from her employer before faking an abduction and fleeing to Disney World with her young daughter is due back before a judge to learn her sentence.
The sentencing hearing for Bonnie Sweeten is scheduled to resume today, nearly two weeks after it began with prosecutors and defense lawyers arguing over the total amount of the fraud.
Update, 4:55 p.m. Sweeten now faces 8.5 to 10 years in prison for the hoax, the Associated Press reports, but she won’t learn her fate until next week. The sentencing hearing will resume Jan. 26.
Update, 3:30 p.m. A judge has ruled Sweeten did bilk her boss and a relative for $1 million before skipping town, the Associated Press reports, boosting her chances at several years in prison. A sentence is unlikely today.
Prosecutors are seeking 10 years in prison for Sweeten, who triggered a nationwide search in May 2009 when she told a 911 operator she and her daughter had been carjacked by two men and stuffed into the trunk of a car.
Sweeten and her daughter were eventually tracked down at Disney World.
Sweeten spent a year in prison for the fake abduction call.
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