Judge: Hoax mom swindled $1M from boss, relative

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Last Updated: Fri, Jan 20, 2012 05:00 hrs

A federal judge has found that a Philadelphia-area woman stole more than $1 million before she called in a hoax carjacking and fled to Disney World with her child.

The fraud total and the use of "sophisticated means" increases Bonnie Sweeten's sentencing range to 8 1/2 to 10 years in prison.

The sentencing hearing has inched along over several days. It will resume Jan. 26.

Her father, William Siner of Milton, Del., testified Wednesday that Sweeten made a big mistake and knows it.

The 40-year-old Feasterville paralegal triggered a nationwide search in 2009 when she told a 911 operator she and her 9-year-old daughter had been kidnapped.

Authorities say she fled before an arrest for swindling her boss and an elderly relative.

Sweeten spent a year in prison for the fake 911 call.