Bonnie Sweeten, 'serial fabricator,' admits fraud, ID theft

Bonnie Sweeten stood solemnly before a federal judge yesterday, wearing hunter-green prison jumpers and speaking softly. Her darkened hair fell below her shoulders.

The Feasterville mom and one-time paralegal who faked her own abduction copped a plea to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Sentencing for the 40-year-old Sweeten is set for Sept. 21. She could face 70 to 87 months under advisory sentencing guidelines on the wire-fraud charge plus a mandatory-minimum two years for aggravated identity theft.

One issue to be resolved at sentencing is the fraud loss, which both parties stipulated to in the plea agreement as between $400,000 and $2.5 million.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Wolf said prosecutors would be arguing for a fraud loss of at least $1 million. (The higher the loss, the more prison time a defendant is exposed to.) U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. will ultimately determine the loss.

Defense attorney James J. McHugh Jr. said that Sweeten was "very remorseful" for her conduct and that he would raise "numerous mitigating factors" on her behalf at sentencing. He did not elaborate.

Wolf was less charitable, describing Sweeten as a "serial fabricator."

The government's plea memo said Sweeten had worked at a now-defunct Feasterville personal-injury law firm where she had "nearly full and exclusive control" over the firm's finances.

The feds said that from April 2005 to May 2009, Sweeten stole $700,000 from the law firm's clients; from the law firm's founder, Debbie Carlitz; and from another employee. Sweeten allegedly spent the money on clothing, jewelry, entertainment, trips, electronics and other items and services.

The two charges for which she admitted her guilt yesterday involved the theft of $280,000 in fall 2008 from the retirement account of Victor Biondino, an elderly relative, in order to pay back one of the law firm's clients she had stolen from, the plea memo said

Sweeten posed as Carlitz in September 2006 to obtain a mortgage, and presented bogus identification in the name of Carlitz, including a driver's license and a passport, with Sweeten's photograph on it.

Sweeten, who has been in federal custody since last June, gained national notoriety in May 2009 when she claimed that she and her 9-year-old daughter had been abducted by two black men. She was arrested at Walt Disney World, in Orlando, where, authorities said, she had fled with her child, using a stolen identity.