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What to Know
- Kelly Nichole Sharkey, 30, of Bristol Township, pleaded guilty in September to access device fraud and theft by unlawful taking.
- Sharkey stole $17,000 from a cancer patient she was caring for and giving some of the money to her boyfriend who was in jail.
- The victim told investigators that Sharkey’s crimes made it difficult for her to trust anyone.
A Bucks County woman was sentenced for stealing $17,000 from a cancer patient she was caring for and giving some of the money to her boyfriend who was in jail.
Kelly Nichole Sharkey, 30, of Bristol Township, pleaded guilty in September to access device fraud and theft by unlawful taking.
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On Thursday she was sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day in county jail. She was also sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $17,421.19 in restitution to the victim and two banks.
Sharkey began working for the victim, a friend of her grandmother’s, in the spring of 2019. The victim had tongue cancer and had part of her tongue removed as part of her treatment, making it difficult for her to speak and run errands. She hired Sharkey for help.
The victim gave Sharkey her debit and credit cards to make household purchases but never gave her permission to use them for personal spending. The victim discovered unauthorized purchases on her cards a week before Thanksgiving 2019 and confronted Sharkey who denied making them. The victim then reported the theft to Bristol Township Police on Nov. 26, 2019.
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Police obtained records from the victim’s banks and reviewed surveillance footage showing Sharkey making unauthorized purchases at two Wawa stores and a tobacco shop. In all, Sharkey made purchases for $3,720 on the victim’s credit card from June to December 2019 and $13,701.19 on the victim’s debit card between June 21, 2019 and Nov. 22, 2019.
Sharkey also sent some of the money to the account of her child’s father, who was an inmate at the Bucks County Correctional Facility. The victim told investigators that Sharkey’s crimes made it difficult for her to trust anyone.
Sharkey was also given concurrent sentences in five other cases on Thursday. She pleaded guilty to retail theft, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia for an October 2017 arrest at a Walmart in Tullytown, harassment for a September 2020 child custody case, driving under the influence for an arrest in Bensalem Township in May 2020, retail theft and possession of drug paraphernalia for a May 2020 arrest at a CVS in Bristol Township and retail theft for a June 2020 arrest at a Bristol Township Wawa.
