Click here to subscribe today or Login.
West Wyoming woman had taken more than $5,000 from military family support group.
WILKES-BARRE – The former president of a local military family support group who was charged with stealing more than $5,000 in donations was sentenced Wednesday to one year probation.
Christine Healey, 30, of West Wyoming, pleaded guilty to the theft charges and was sentenced to probation and 100 hours of community service to be served at a military or veterans’ organization. She was sentenced by Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Hugh Mundy.
According to arrest records, Healey, who was president of the Delta Company Family Readiness Group, stole more than $5,000 in donations, the majority made in memory of 1st Lt. Jeffrey DePrimo, who was killed in combat in Afghanistan in May.
Healey said she used the money for her personal use, including the purchase of a laptop computer and a trip to St. Louis. Healey, who is engaged to a soldier with the 109th Infantry, was relieved of her duties shortly before her arrest in September.
“She was concerned about the sentence, but made sure she paid back the money, which she did today,” said Healey’s attorney, Jeffrey Yelen. “Her concern was the people in the organization and the DePrimo family would understand her and give her some forgiveness.”
Yelen said Healey paid back the full $5,372.85 at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing and apologized to the DePrimos and the organization.
“Another concern she has is she thinks the family thinks she’s not as remorseful as she should have been. But, she wasn’t able to contact them before or after (due to court proceedings) to give apologies,” Yelen said. “There’s nothing else she can do about it.”
Luzerne County First Assistant District Attorney Jeff Tokach said Healey paying back the full amount was very unusual for her case.
“The big thing was that she paid the money back,” Tokach said. “That doesn’t happen, if ever.”
Tokach said Healey was sentenced within the standard range, and her sentence is what he expected.
“The sentence was appropriate,” Tokach said. “I’m satisfied and I think the (DePrimo) family is too.”
Donations to the Delta Company Family Readiness Group help support soldiers’ families by hosting Halloween and Christmas parties for their children and paying expenses for travel for hospital visits out of the area and for events when soldiers return home from deployment.
When DePrimo was killed, Lt. Col. Stephen Zarnowski previously said, the DePrimo family requested donations be made to the group. Approximately $7,000 in contributions followed.
Mundy ordered Healey to have no contact with the DePrimo family or with the Delta Company Family Readiness Group.