A Mastic Beach woman has been sentenced to one year in jail for stealing two people’s identities and forging six checks worth more than $15,000.
Theresa Barth, a former employment agency operator, was sentenced Wednesday at Suffolk County court following a series of adjournments dating back to January. Sheriffs confirmed she began serving her sentence at Suffolk County jail later the same day.
advertisement
The 33-year-old had pleaded guilty last November to identity theft, grand larceny, forgery and other charges following a plea deal that she made with Judge Robert Doyle. The deal was intended to allow her to seek medical treatment for pregnancy complications, for which she was hospitalized.
Barth was sentenced to six months in jail on a series of related charges, but those sentences are being served concurrently. Doyle also ordered Barth to pay restitution to her victims.
She had been jailed after initially pleading not guilty to a total of 11 charges in three separate grand jury indictments but was later released prior to her sentencing day on the condition that she undergo electronic surveillance.
Prosecutors said Barth stole a man’s identity and used his debit card information to pay her Cablevision bill, stole a woman’s identity and forged nearly $7,000 worth of checks drawn on the bank account of a health insurance company. She also stole a Lincoln Navigator.
Barth had owned Diversity Employment Agency, which had offices in Shirley and Queens. She blamed some of the check fraud on her former employees, according to court records. Suffolk County police IdentityTheft Unit detectives arrested her in September 2009.
She also has a pending charge of making a false sworn statement following her arrest. She is due back in court June 16 on that charge.
