Texas woman gets five years in prison for scamming central Wisconsin man out of over $1M

MADISON − A 35-year-old Texas woman was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for cheating a central Wisconsin man out of more than $1 million.

Sarah Doherty, of Stephenville, Texas, pleaded guilty April 9 to wire fraud and tax evasion. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Conley sentenced her to five years in federal prison and ordered her to pay more than $1.025 million in restitution to her victim.

Between 2016 and 2020, Doherty schemed to defraud a small business owner in central Wisconsin, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Wisconsin. Doherty became friends with the man and gained access to his personal finances. She then used the access to steal money from him and used the money to pay her personal expenses, including a down payment on property in Colorado and a seven-horse trailer, according to the release.

Doherty created fictitious identities and used them to scam and manipulate the man into sending her money, which she spent. In one case, Doherty created "Cindy Lou," who was a matchmaker that the central Wisconsin man paid to set him up on dates with women, according to the release. Doherty created several fake female identities to be the dates that Doherty, pretending to be Cindy Lou, set him up on. Many of the fake women would ask the man for financial help. The business owner would send the money and Doherty would spend it, according to the release.

Doherty also created a fake travel agent and a fake investment advisor to obtain more money from the victim, according to the release.

While Doherty was awaiting trial in the case, she continued to violate the law and Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker ordered Doherty arrested as a result of her multiple violations while out on release, according to the release.

During sentencing, Conley said Doherty's fraud scheme was a "web of misrepresentations" that had a devastating impact on the victim and his business. Conley said Doherty demonstrated a "pathological affinity for fraudulent conduct," and pointed out that he had never seen "a more dismal performance by a white-collar defendant on pretrial supervision."

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Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.