GUILTY PA - Bonnie Sweeten for staged abduction, swindle, Upper Southampton, 2009

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joyce D said:
Surely the 300k would get her more than a misdemeanor?
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Yes it would but usually white collar crimes never have very harsh sentences unless it is for millions of dollars taken.

When ex-attorney, Karyn Hancock from Ohio alleged she had been kidnapped sparking a nationwide manhunt and it was found to all be a HOAX she was also charged with filing a false report. On that one charge she received a three year sentence but only served three months in jail.

When the true reason for her lies surfaced she was sentenced to four years in prison for bilking her clients out of over $600K over the years. She had to serve at least 180 days before being eligible for probation.

http://www.toledoonthemove.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=247155
 
SuziQ said:
People who do this need to be prosecuted as harsh as the penalty for crime they falsely reported IMO. What if LE happened upon the person who owned that Cadillac and they panicked and someone got shot or killed? So many things could have gone really wrong.
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Amen, you are so right and thank goodness it didn't.

I find this woman extremely selfish and extremely cold and calculating.

First she leaves her husband, 8 month old baby behind and her distraught 15 year old daughter who was pleading for everyone to pray for her mom and little sister. Now the daughter knows it was all a hoax. She also knows now that she wasn't chosen to go with her own mother. That can lead the oldest daughter into depression thinking she is not valued as much.

But when she was trying to pull off all of this sham I think the cruelest thing she did was when she told LE to tell her husband to give her love to her other children in case she never saw them again. Inferring that the "two black men" may murder her. (gag) That shows a total indifference to the ones she says she loves. You don't do that to people that you truly love and care about when you know it is all a big da*n lie, imo.

So this woman has made countless victims and in the end she only thought about her own wants and needs. That tends to make me think she is most likely guilty of embezzling money from others who trusted her. She was probably spending money behind her husband's back and getting them into debt.

imo
 
oceanblueeyes said:
Yes it would but usually white collar crimes never have very harsh sentences unless it is for millions of dollars taken.

When ex-attorney, Karyn Hancock from Ohio alleged she had been kidnapped sparking a nationwide manhunt and it was found to all be a HOAX she was also charged with filing a false report. On that one charge she received a three year sentence but only served three months in jail.

When the true reason for her lies surfaced she was sentenced to four years in prison for bilking her clients out of over $600K over the years. She had to serve at least 180 days before being eligible for probation.

http://www.toledoonthemove.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=247155
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Here in Oregon I've known several women who have embezzled thousands of dollars (one took over $200,000.00) and the courts have been pretty lenient with them. The one that took over 200 grand only served 6 months and had to pay restitution. She had small children and I think that is why the court went easy on her. The other took about $50,000.00 and got probation. They both had gambling problems and had to seek treatment. We have video lottery in our state and it's very addicting. Almost every time I hear about an embezzlement the person always has a gambling problem.
 
DairyGirl said:
Here in Oregon I've known several women who have embezzled thousands of dollars (one took over $200,000.00) and the courts have been pretty lenient with them. The one that took over 200 grand only served 6 months and had to pay restitution. She had small children and I think that is why the court went easy on her. The other took about $50,000.00 and got probation. They both had gambling problems and had to seek treatment. We have video lottery in our state and it's very addicting. Almost every time I hear about an embezzlement the person always has a gambling problem.
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Personally I think there should be much harsher punishments for embezzlement or stealing. Especially if it is a large amount that totally devastated the financial stability of the one that was embezzled from.

I don't know the particulars of the amount of money a lady in my town embezzled a few years back or what may have made her case different but she was sentenced to 20 years with a possibility of parole in about 6.5 years, iirc. This woman wasn't addicted to anything that I am aware of but she just seemed to be a person lacking, who had no self discipline,trustworthiness and because she was over the money she just took it because no one questioned it at the time until the company did an in depth audit investigation.

imo
 
mgardner said:
It looks like bond is 0.00

#Bond Amount: 0.00

So what's she gonna do - waltz on back and say "kids, I'm home"?

ICK!

Mel
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I don't think a bond amount can be set until she is extradited back to Pennsylvania and she's arraigned.
 
Here is something I find really odd for anyone to do at the request of someone else - give your DL to that person for the purpose of anything! A former co-worker said that BS asked her for her DL because she had to do something with her 401K. WTF??? Did not that former co-worker think why would BS not need her own DL??? This makes no sense at all.

What really shocks me, and everything about this case shocks me, is that no one close to BS can recall anything about here that seemed different, or odd, right up to the time of the fake abduction. I can't believe that she wouldn't have been different in some way - more to her self, secretive, whatever. Some small nuances would have been there, but somehow everyone close to her missed them. Are they looking back now, and saying ," Oh yeah, I should have noticed that, or that, or that..." Or, are they still not seeing anything odd about her behavior prior to his hoax??
 
Texas Mist said:
Here ya go
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Thanks~ Now I have the liner for the bottom of my trash can. ;)

I think her mug shot should have included a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. :p

We have yet to find out who the woman is she met up with before going to the airport. If it turns out to be the same woman as is on the DL...her story about the DL is bogus and there should be more charges against her for helping set this up.
 
SuziQ said:
People who do this need to be prosecuted as harsh as the penalty for crime they falsely reported IMO. What if LE happened upon the person who owned that Cadillac and they panicked and someone got shot or killed? So many things could have gone really wrong.
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Maybe the owner of the Caddy can sue the hell out of her for implicating him and having the vehicle confiscated. I recommend the person hire ZG's attorneys. LOL
 
Amounts allegedly stolen could have been up to $1 million -

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6836085

UPPER SOUTHAMPTON TWP - May 28, 2009 (WPVI) -- Bucks County mom Bonnie Sweeten, who police say faked a kidnapping and fled to Florida, is awaiting a trip back to our area to face criminal charges.

Sweeten's 9-year-old daughter, Julia, is safe and sound. Julia's father, Sweeten's ex-husband, will reunite with his daughter in Orlando later today. In the meantime, we are learning more details about Bonnie Sweeten and why she may have fled.

At a Wednesday night news conference Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry gave insight into a possible motive. Henry explained, "We believe that there was some domestic problems with her husband and some financial concerns as well, but that's still being investigated."

Sources tell Action News that police are investigating Bonnie Sweeten for the possible theft of between $600,000 to $1 million from a charity and a law firm headed by Bucks County attorney Debbie Carlitz. Sources also say Sweeten has had eight miscarriages over the last several years and has undergone hormone treatments for that. Investigators are looking to see if any of that alleged stolen money went to pay for those treatments.

Police visited the head of the Carlitz Foundation in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Sweeten is listed as a director of the foundation. However, Action News has learned she no longer works there. It bills itself as a charity raising money for children in Burma. But, it is not registered as a charitable non-profit with the state.

The Carlitz Foundation is run by lawyer Debbie Carlitz, who would not talk to Action News except to say she has been talking to police. She also would not say why Sweeten is a former employee.

Action News has learned from sources that other former employers are surfacing, and they claim to have money missing, too.

"I think she got herself in over her head a little bit and she kind of lost it a little bit," ex-husband Anthony Rakoczy said on "Good Morning America" on Thursday. "I've known this woman a long time and she's always been very together."
 
I'm a bit suspicious of all the missing money being pinned on BS. It doesn't sound like a legit charity to begin with if it wasn't registered with the state. Alot of people could have had their hands in that cookie jar. The fund will be under scrutiny now. If anyone else is involved in the theft, what a perfect opportunity to make BS the sole scapegoat. The worker who supposedly gave the DL for BS to use is not sitting well with me. And DC wouldn't have noticed a Mil missing? I feel everyone involved in that fund needs to be looked at.
 
I'm thoroughly confuzzled by the family dynamics part of this whole thing. Why take the 9 year old with you? Why take only one child, ESPECIALLY when you have supposedly gone thru fertility treatments to have the 8 month old and on top of that, supposedly suffered 8 miscarriages trying to get to that point? None of it makes sense to me.

And how horrible for the oldest especially because she's old enough to know she wasn't "the chosen one." Those poor girls. All 3 of them.
 
SeriouslySearching said:
Thanks~ Now I have the liner for the bottom of my trash can. ;)

I think her mug shot should have included a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. :p

We have yet to find out who the woman is she met up with before going to the airport. If it turns out to be the same woman as is on the DL...her story about the DL is bogus and there should be more charges against her for helping set this up.
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There's no doubt that this was a crappy thing to do but I just can't help but be grateful that when this lady 'snapped' she took her kid to Disneyland instead of......
She'll have to answer to her family and it's up to them to decide if they want to forgive her or not.
As for embezzlement and lying to the police, I can't agree on a stiff penalty for these types of crimes until there are stiffer penalties for convicted child molesters. Nothing irritates me more than when a man gets a 5-10 year sentence for raping a child while a person who embezzles $$ does 10-20.
 
SuziQ said:
I'm a bit suspicious of all the missing money being pinned on BS. It doesn't sound like a legit charity to begin with if it wasn't registered with the state. Alot of people could have had their hands in that cookie jar. The fund will be under scrutiny now. If anyone else is involved in the theft, what a perfect opportunity to make BS the sole scapegoat. The worker who supposedly gave the DL for BS to use is not sitting well with me. And DC wouldn't have noticed a Mil missing? I feel everyone involved in that fund needs to be looked at.
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I agree. The lawyer who is in charge of the charity had her license suspended for a year.
 
I'm can't even come up with a comment, but what the heck was she thinking??? What was the point of this??? Weird. And I agree, at least she took her daughter to Disneyworld.
 
SuziQ said:
I'm a bit suspicious of all the missing money being pinned on BS. It doesn't sound like a legit charity to begin with if it wasn't registered with the state. Alot of people could have had their hands in that cookie jar. The fund will be under scrutiny now. If anyone else is involved in the theft, what a perfect opportunity to make BS the sole scapegoat. The worker who supposedly gave the DL for BS to use is not sitting well with me. And DC wouldn't have noticed a Mil missing? I feel everyone involved in that fund needs to be looked at.
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ITA!!!

BS's contact info is still listed on the foundation's contact us page. You'd think they would have changed it by now!!:confused:

http://carlitzfoundation.org/contact_us.html
 
I think the whole Charity gig sounds FISHY too!

This is gonna be scandalous...I feel it in my bones:eek:

The only reason why charges weren't filed against her ...the charity's got plenty to hide
 
What about the woman who provided her with the phony ID?
Has she been named yet?
 
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