PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced the former director of Oregon’s federal halfway house to 18 months in prison for embezzling nearly $200,000 from the facility.
While her lawyer asked for probation Monday, Laura Edwards apologized to Judge Ancer Haggerty in Portland and said she’d been driven by a shopping addiction.
In addition to prison time, the judge ordered her to pay restitution of more than $162,000. The Oregonian reports (http://is.gd/QqkFBt) the government previously recovered more than $21,000.
The 39-year-old Edwards worked at the Northwest Regional Re-entry Center, formerly known as the Oregon Halfway House. It helps federal prison inmates reintegrate into the community.
