Woman sentenced to 18 months in prison for defrauding customers and bank

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A Boardman woman who pleaded guilty to bilking customers out of furniture they ordered from her and to defrauding a bank was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison.

Taylor Moore, 32, received the sentence from Judge Anthony D’Apolito in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court following guilty pleas earlier this year to charges in three separate criminal cases.

The charges in two of the cases stem from people who ordered furniture from Moore but never received it, and the third case involves Moore trying to deposit a fraudulent check, said Assistant County Prosecutor Catherine Jones.

Jones asked that Moore be sentenced to a year in prison, saying Moore has been charged with similar offenses in the past and her actions in the current case disrupted the finances of the people who ordered the furniture from her but never received it.

Defense Attorney Robert Harvey said his client was a good candidate for probation. Harvey said it would be easier for her to pay her victims back if she was on probation instead of in prison.

Harvey also said Jones has suffered from addiction in the past and when she got clean, she wanted to work from home and started her own business. He said she did not have much experience in business. His client is in counseling now for substance abuse and has a job, Harvey said.

Moore tearfully apologized and asked for mercy, saying her children need her but she added no matter what sentence she received, she wanted to pay her victims back.

Judge D’Apolito said cases like Moore’s are tricky because if you imprison someone, that makes it harder for them to pay restitution. He added that while he acknowledged Moore had battled addiction issues and her children need her, he has to think of the victims first because they did not ask to be victimized.

The judge said he decided prison is necessary because Moore has engaged in the same conduct before and that is a pattern he cannot ignore. He said he would let her out of prison nine months into her sentence and if she could repay her victims, those months would be dismissed.

The judge said he wanted those remaining nine months of the sentence to serve as an incentive to pay her victims back.

Moore said she is trying to sell her home to make restitution. The judge said if she can sell it before the first nine months of her sentence expires, he would consider a motion for early release.

Before she was indicted by a grand jury on these charges, Moore had made news for renting out the swimming pool in the backyard of her Boardman home, which prompted complaints about noise and other issues from neighbors. Boardman trustees filed a civil suit against her, saying she was using residential property for commercial purposes in violation of zoning regulations.

A judge ordered her to stop having the parties.

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