A Swanton woman who used the identities of her employers to steal more than $250,000 was released early from prison yesterday by Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge James Jensen.
Janet Jeffers, 45, of 117 Marshall Drive served nearly 17 months of a 2 1/2-year sentence for identity theft, passing a bad check, and forgery.
From December, 2001, to March, 2003, Jeffers betrayed the trust of her longtime employers, Marcia Guinan and her late husband, James Guinan, by using their Social Security numbers and other information to obtain bank loans and credit cards in the couple's name.
Jeffers was an office manager for the psychologists at their counseling office in Springfield Township.
She also took out a mortgage on the Guinans' Maumee home and stole at least $30,000 from Mr. Guinan's corporate checking account.
Mrs. Guinan told Judge Jensen during a hearing yesterday that the fraud depleted their business funds and left them with constant telephone calls from credit card companies and banks demanding payment of the money Jeffers stole.She said the stress from Jeffers' action didn't directly kill her husband, but the stress it caused contributed to his death on Dec. 14 at age 65.
"Hardly a day goes by that a credit card company doesn't call asking for money," Mrs. Guinan said.
Judge Jensen released Jeffers from prison but placed her on community control for five years.
She will spend 120 days on electronic monitoring and must perform 100 hours of community service. Jeffers also was ordered to pay restitution of $110,000.
Jeffers told Judge Jensen that she used the money to feed a gambling addiction. "I was on a destructive path, and I took everyone in my way with me," she said.
She said she was saddened to learn while in prison that her former employer died. "We had a great relationship. I know that I hurt him tremendously," she said.
In granting shock probation, Judge Jensen said Jeffers ravaged the Guinans' credit, and Mrs. Guinan is now left to deal with the phone calls from credit card companies for expenses she didn't incur.
Shock probation, which is also known as judicial release, can be granted after a brief stay in prison at the discretion of the sentencing judge.
Black's Law Dictionary says the purpose is to awaken the person convicted of a crime to the reality of possible additional confinement if he or she fail to abide by the conditions of the probation.
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