A former stripper and paralegal allegedly spent thousands of federal aid on such trivial pursuits as plastic surgery, car stereos, and custom paint jobs, according to the Daily Mail . While she was bringing home close to $85,000 from her gig as an exotic dancer, 28-year-old Brenda Charlestain was reportedly collecting quite a bit of money through the welfare program. It’s good to know that her vehicle’s bright pink paint job was acquired using taxpayer dollars.
Since Charlestain claims that a lot of the money she made during her time as a stripper were gifts from extremely generous male customers, she never thought to claim the money on her taxes. In fact, when she applied for federal assistance, Charlestain stated she was homeless and unemployed. To properly care for her five children, she told the government she needed a little help. Hence, the issuing of food stamps.
The Sun Sentinel reports that, instead of taking care of her kids, the former stripper spent the money she made from her day job on $10,000 worth of plastic surgery, over $1,000 on a car stereo, and a large chunk of change on the aforementioned paint job for her car.
For spending money that could have been given to someone who genuinely needed the help, Charlestain will now reportedly spent close to a year-and-a-half behind bars for the crime. In addition to turning herself over to authorities by November 30, the woman will also have to pay back the $24,000 she essentially stole from the state of Florida.
Adding a bizarre layer to the story are reports that Charlestain made threats against a federal employee after her priest explained that someone had placed a Voodoo curse on her husband. Oddly, the judge ruled in favor of the woman’s alibi, stating that, if you believe in Voodoo, then her actions make perfect sense. The priest should have warned Charlestain that defrauding Florida’s food stamp program would send her to jail for quite a while.
