Woman Gets Jail, But Only On Christmas

A central Ohio judge has ordered a woman to spend the next five Christmases in jail, according to ABC News.

“A former employee of the deputy registrar’s office in Gahanna will spend her next five Christmas holidays in jail for issuing state ID cards and driver’s licenses to immigrants who entered the country illegally,” according to The Columbus Dispatch.

The report continued on to say that Betina Young, 44, of Bancroft Street in the Linden area, pleaded guilty in May in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to five counts of tampering with records.

Young had pleaded guilty for accepting payments from license applications to falsify records showing that they presented the necessary documentation to verify immigration status according to Assistant Prosecutor Kimberly Bond.

Sekou Kpoto, 42, is accused of serving as the middleman in Young’s operations. Kpoto solicited bribes from foreign nationals and drove them to the Gahanna agency.

It is at that point where Young stepped in and issued them their ID cards and driver’s licenses.

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles stated that Young issued 95 fraudulent licenses and IDs during her seven years as a clerk.

The investigation by the bureau, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security found that Kpoto received $700 to $1500 for each transaction, which he paid a portion of it to Young.

Another recent fraud case was the Octomom welfare fraud case where she had allegedly underreported her earnings for the year of 2012 and still claimed welfare benefits.

Kpoto has been charged with five counts of tampering with records and is scheduled for trial next Tuesday.

Young on the other hand has been placed on probation by Judge Michael J. Holbrook for five years. She has also been told that she must spend a minimum of three days in jail each Christmas while on probation.

Judge Holbrook also imposed a $3,000 fine on Young.

[Image via Shutterstock/Evlakhov Valeriy]