WOMAN IN KATRINA SCAM SENTENCED, FINED.Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer A Glendale woman who posed as a Red Cross volunteer in a scam to bilk bilk tr.v. bilked, bilk·ing, bilks 1. a. To defraud, cheat, or swindle: made millions bilking wealthy clients on art sales. b. donations meant for Hurricane Katrina  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. victims was sentenced Monday to six months at a halfway house halfway house /half·way house/ (haf´wa hous) a residence for patients (e.g., mental patients, drug addicts, alcoholics) who do not require hospitalization but who need an intermediate degree of care until they can return to the community. . During a hearing in U.S. District Court in downtown L.A., Gina Liz Nicholas also received three years of probation, 300 hours of community service, was fined $1,000 and was required to undergo psychiatric counseling. She had pleaded guilty to a charge of impersonating a Red Cross worker. Nicholas, who police say is 20 but prosecutors say could be 23, was the second person sentenced in the first federal fundraising fraud case stemming from the August 2005 disaster. Nicholas, Tino Lee of Burbank and an unidentified 14-year-old Pico Rivera Pico Rivera (pē`kō rĭvĕr`ə), city (1990 pop. 59,177), Los Angeles co., SW Calif., SE of Los Angeles on the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers; inc. 1958 with the union of Pico and Rivera into one community. girl were arrested in September outside a Burbank Best Buy store, where they had set up a table and a collection box. They had fliers that read, ``Help Now. American Red Cross American Red Cross: see Red Cross. Relief For Hurricane Katrina,'' and had collected as much as $2,000 over several days, police said. Lee, 45, was sentenced in February to one year in federal prison and two years probation after pleading guilty to the same charge. Defense attorney Vincent James Oliver said he was bracing for a similar sentence for Nicholas. U.S. District Judge George H. King said he had considered an eight-month prison sentence until both Oliver and Assistant U.S. District Attorney Ellyn Lindsay argued for leniency le·ni·en·cy n. pl. le·ni·en·cies 1. The condition or quality of being lenient. See Synonyms at mercy. 2. A lenient act. Noun 1. . ``She was just crying in court all the time,'' Oliver said. ``She is illiterate. She pretty much did what she was told.'' Lindsay said the scam's mastermind remains at large. ``But that doesn't mean (Nicholas) has to be the scapegoat,'' she said after the hearing. ``I think she has psychological issues that made her more of a pawn and less personally culpable Blameworthy; involving the commission of a fault or the breach of a duty imposed by law. Culpability generally implies that an act performed is wrong but does not involve any evil intent by the wrongdoer. .'' The case against the girl from Pico Rivera, now 15, is being handled by the District Attorney's Office. eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com (818) 546-3304 |
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