Pa. abduction hoax mom accused of law firm thefts
Headline News
A suburban mother once at the center of a national abduction hoax stole more than $700,000 from clients and colleagues at the law office where she worked and posed as her boss before fleeing to Disney World, a grand jury charged Thursday.
Bonnie Sweeten was accused in a 23-count indictment of offenses including fraud, money laundering and identity theft between 2005 and 2009.
Sweeten, a paralegal and office manager from Feasterville, diverted money from clients' legal settlements and other accounts to spend on clothing, jewelry, tanning salons, gym usage, electronics and mortgage payments, prosecutors said. She also fabricated and forged documents including a court order, a driver's license, a passport and mortgage paperwork, an indictment said.
A telephone message left with an attorney for Sweeten was not immediately returned Thursday.
Sweeten, 39, is serving a nine- to 23-month sentence at the Bucks County prison after pleading guilty to identity theft and filing a false police report in connection with last year's hoax.
Sweeten abandoned her car in Philadelphia and called 911 to say she and her daughter had been kidnapped, but she actually fled to Orlando, Fla., and Disney World.
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