Community service for cashing stolen checks

GREAT BAY – The Court in First Instance sentenced 24-year old Stephanie Smith on Thursday morning to a 1-month conditional prison sentence and 120 hours of community service for a scam with checks that cost her employer Manrique Capriles and Sons close to $10,000.

Smith has cashed checks for an amount of up to $9,787.15 at the request of Martinois Fabio Doralice; the checks bore a forged signature. Smith received $50 for her services.

In September of last year, the court sentenced Doralice already to 5 days of imprisonment (equal to the time he spent in pretrial detention) and 120 hours of community service.

The checks were allegedly stolen from the company by a man who was identified as Irish during last year’s court case.

Smith confessed her role to investigators but she did not appear in court to take responsibility.

The public prosecutor demanded 120 hours of community service, but the judge added a 1-month conditional prison sentence to the verdict, saying that Smith had let herself be used too easily by the check thieves.