PHILIPSBURG--Felicia Diamond Elisa (23) was sentenced in absentia Wednesday to 180 hours of community service and payment of US $165,549 in damages for using nineteen company cheques that were provided with a falsified signature.
Elisa, who is currently residing in the Netherlands, was sentenced according to the prosecutor’s demand. The judge found it legally and convincingly proven that she had provided most of the cheques in her name, while using her employer’s forged signature. The cheques were used for personal expenses, goods and services.
The prosecutor said the suspect categorically denied the allegations. She claimed she did not know anything and pointed at her niece as the one who had been involved.
The prosecutor did not buy that story and qualified the crime as “pure theft by a cunning woman.”
In meting out the sentence, the court took into consideration that the defendant was a first-time offender and that the crimes were committed more than two years ago.
The judge acknowledged that the execution of the community service may be a problem when a defendant is not residing in St. Maarten. However, if the community service is not carried out the sentence can be converted to a prison sentence of 90 days, the judge explained.
