Woman gets prison over Irving teachers ID theft

DALLAS — A Bedford woman apologized as she was sentenced to 34 years in prison in an identity theft scam targeting educators in Irving.

Sharon Denise Seeley pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years for fraudulent use or possession of identifying information. She was sentenced to two years on each of two counts of credit card abuse.

The 40-year-old woman will serve the sentences concurrently.

About a dozen victims were in court Thursday. Several testified about how ID theft had destroyed their credit ratings and left their lives in turmoil.

Thieves were blamed for getting the data of more than 3,000 Irving teachers and other district employees from an old benefits report. Seeley, who was arrested in 2009 at a mall, says the information she used came from a binder thrown in a trash bin.

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