Newburgh Woman Gets Prison Term For Defrauding Military Charities: Feds

NEWBURGH, NY — A local woman accused of defrauding military veterans’ charities and falsely claiming she was a Purple Heart recipient was sentenced Tuesday to one year and one day in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge Vincent L. Briccetti imposed the sentence on Sharon Toney-Finch, who pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud and stolen valor offenses.

The sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. Toney-Finch must also pay $84,000 in restitution, and undergo mental health and drug treatment.

“Sharon Toney-Finch falsely claimed to be a Purple Heart recipient and used her foundation to defraud donors and others induced by that lie,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Let today’s sentence reaffirm that fraud built on lies about service and sacrifice will carry a heavy price.”

Toney-Finch is an Army veteran who founded the Yerik Israel Toney (YIT) Foundation, a charity, in Sullivan County.

Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan W. Allison and Margaret N. Vasu said Toney-Finch created the foundation in memory of her late son, who died at age seven months.

Prosecutors said the foundation purported to work to raise awareness of premature births, offer assistance to premature babies and their families, and provide a place to stay or transportation while the babies were in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The foundation also claimed to help homeless and low-income military service veterans in need of living assistance, according to the government.

“In fact, the YIT Foundation was largely a fraud,” prosecutors said, in a pre-sentencing memorandum to the court.

“The defendant helped virtually no military veterans and, instead, used the money that had been donated to the YIT Foundation by bona fide military veterans’ charities for her own benefit, including to pay for her BMW, a gym membership, travel, meals, and other personal expenses,” the government’s memorandum states.

Toney-Finch submitted a letter to the court prior to the sentencing.

“I would like to apologize for my crimes, my behavior, and am accepting full responsibility for what I have done,” she wrote. “What I did was wrong and I see that now. I loved doing what I was doing with the foundation which felt like I was keeping the memory of my son, Yerik, alive.”

Toney-Finch said she is getting therapy, and wishes she could go back and do things differently. She has stepped away from the foundation and anticipates that a relative will dismantle it, court documents show.

“I do want to make things right and be able to pay the restitution,” she said. “I was wrong for misusing the funds for my own purpose.”

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Newburgh Woman Stole Veteran-Earmarked Donations: Feds