Brenda Heist Sentenced To Year In Jail

Brenda Heist, 54, was sentenced to nearly a year in jail, 364 days to be exact. The Pennsylvania woman had been reported missing for 11 years and had finally resurfaced last month.

Heist was ordered to serve her 364 days for violating probation according to Lisa Ates, senior court clerk for the Santa Rosa County Circuit Court in Florida.

CNN reported that Heist had been sentenced to three years of probation identity theft and for giving false information to a law enforcement officer.

It was after her release from jail in April that she had neglected to report to authorities and a warrant was then put out for her arrest.

It was after she turned herself in to police in Key Largo, Florida in May that she came out as Brenda Heist.

She then went on to tell police that she had been homeless for two years, “living under bridges and eating food thrown out by restaurants after they closed,” according to CNN.

The report continued on to say:

“For the following seven years, she lived in a camper with a man she had met, she said.

“They made money as day laborers, cleaning boats and doing other odd jobs for which they didn’t have to show identification and were paid in cash.”

Detective John Schofield of the Lititz Borough Police Department said, “After that relationship soured, she lived on the street again for another two years.”

Schofield continued on to say, “Everything seemed to be going against her while she was on the street.

“She was just worn out and at the end of her rope. She didn’t want to continue on with her secret life down there.”

Luck just doesn’t seem to be on Heist’s side. She leaves behind her two children and ex-husband who still live in Pennsylvania while she does her year in a Florida county jail.

[Image via Penn Live]