Guilty Plea On Wire Fraud Charges For Woman Who Faked Kidnapping

UPPER SOUTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, PA —A former Bucks County resident who once faked her kidnapping in 2009 after stealing from her company pleaded guilty Tuesday to new federal charges of fraud involving another Bucks County business.

Bonnie Sweeten, 51, of Delanco, N.J., clutched a tissue and spoke softly Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia as she pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud related to her scheme to steal from her former employer by forging checks and making fraudulent purchases with the company credit card.

She was allowed to remain free pending her Feb. 21 sentencing, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported about her arraignment and plea hearing.

Sweeten told the judge Tuesday that she had received treatment for oxycontin addiction in 2018 and had been “clean ever since.” Defense attorney James McHugh Jr. of the federal defenders’ office said his client's latest crime took place five years ago and since that time she “has been a productive and law-abiding citizen,” the Inquirer reported.

The mother of three, formerly of Feasterville, gained national attention when she called 911 and claimed two black men had carjacked her SUV on Street Road and forced her and her 9-year-old daughter into the trunk of their waiting car.

The FBI discovered Sweeten had taken her daughter and flown to Disney World, where she was later arrested.

She earned the nickname as the "Hoax Mom."

She had stolen $700,000 from her former employer, a Lower Southampton law firm, several of the firm's clients and an elderly relative, a Patch story had reported back in 2011.

If convicted of the current scheme, Sweeten faces a maximum possible sentence of 40 years in prison.

According to the recent charges, in September 2017, Sweeten was hired as a bookkeeper for a Doylestown-based excavating company because the president of the company had known her for many years.

As the bookkeeper, Sweeten had access to company bank accounts, company checkbooks, company mail, and other sensitive personal information belonging to the president and to the company.

She allegedly abused the trust of the president of the company by using her position to steal company funds: using her access to the company’s checking account to issue dozens of company checks to herself; using her access to the company mail to steal checks that had been mailed to the company, which she then fraudulently endorsed over to herself; and using her access to the company credit card to make tens of thousands of dollars of personal purchases, the US. Attorney said.