Woman gets probation in MBNA theft

BANGOR – A Searsport woman was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to five years of probation for stealing more than $21,000 from MBNA.

Sharon A. Lee, 53, also was ordered to repay nearly $16,000 to the credit card company. Lee already has repaid more than $5,000 of the total, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

She pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January.

“I am extremely sorry for my actions and so very ashamed of what I have done,” Lee told U.S. District Judge John Woodcock.

Between October 2002 and May 2003, Lee worked as a customer activation specialist for MBNA in Belfast. During that time, she created and then used three credit cards under another person’s name, according to court documents.

She has no criminal record, according to court documents.

Woodcock could have sentenced Lee to a maximum of six months in federal prison, but instead sentenced her to the maximum amount of probation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Burke recommended that Lee spend some time in prison.

The judge said that he imposed probation rather than prison time so that Lee could continue mental health treatment and have an adequate amount of time to make restitution.

“The struggle I’ve had in determining this sentence is in making the punishment fit the crime with an equal concern for making the punishment fit the criminal,” Woodcock said Tuesday. “The probation report reflects the long struggle you’ve had most of your life for [mental] stability, and I feel this crime reflects that.”

In another case, Chris Powell, 33, of Mount Vernon was sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of probation for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Powell’s sentence was severe because he was determined to be an armed career criminal because of previous convictions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.