A New York federal judge sentenced the woman who stole the diary belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden, to one month in prison.
The defendant, Aimee Harris, pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport the diary across state lines in September 2020 and allegedly sold it for $40,000 to Project Veritas weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who oversaw the case, accused Harris’s conduct of being “despicable and consequently very serious,” according to The New York Times.
Harris has also received three years’ probation, including three months of home confinement, and is required to pay back the thousands of dollars she earned from the sale, the Times reported.
The judge pushed the sentencing date to Tuesday after Harris claimed she was sick or had childcare issues during the initial date two months prior, according to the Times. She missed several other sentencing dates and jeopardized her chances of receiving probation.
Ashley Biden diary thief gets one month in prison, three months of home detention | Just The News https://t.co/CLwLiW7Bh9
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Prosecutors initially recommended Harris be sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release, the Times reported. After missing hearings a dozen times, prosecutors requested she face four to 10 months in prison, arguing she “repeatedly and consistently engaged in tactics to improperly delay this proceeding.” (RELATED: Ashley Biden’s Diary Back In The News As DOJ Seeks Crack Down On Thief)
Swain later threatened to have Harris arrested by U.S. marshals if she did not appear in court, the Times reported.
Harris had claimed the diary had been abandoned at a friend’s house in Florida when she found it, though prosecutors argued she stole it in August 2020 after Biden’s daughter left it at the house to store with other items, the Times reported. She and a friend, Robert Kurlander, then allegedly sold the diary and each made $20,000.
Kurlander is scheduled to be sentenced later this year and could face prison time, the Times reported.
The FBI raided the homes of three individuals, including Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, in November 2021 over allegations that the diary had been stolen.