Financial identity crime draws 10-year term

A 39-year old Oconee woman was sent to prison today for 10 years after her plea of guilt to the charge of financial identity fraud.  By admitting her guilt, Mandy Lee Butts of s. highway 11 took the blame for using other people’s personal information to draw money from banks as a way to pay her personal bills, according to a court officer.  Her attorney, Frank Jackson, asked for the mercy of the court, saying his client had a job and was a church member, but Judge Scott Sprouse imposed the prison term, saying that he had to balance her prospects to be re-habilitated with the need to protect the public.  Butts record included multiple convictions for financial crimes—such as forgery and passing bad checks.