Jail ordered in cancer charity thefts

SANDPOINT — A Coeur d’Alene woman who pleaded guilty to defrauding a Sandpoint nonprofit which aids cancer patients was ordered Wednesday to serve six months in jail.

Judge Barbara Buchanan sentenced Carey Rose Bradshaw to concurrent, 365-day sentences on 12 misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit theft by deception. She suspended 180 days of the sentence and gave Bradshaw credit for 23 days she’s already spent in custody.

Bradshaw, 28, was also ordered to pay $1,200 in fines and $695 in restitution, court records show.

In exchange for her guilty pleas, 12 additional theft-by-deception counts were dismissed.

A similar accord was reached in the case against Bradshaw’s alleged coconspirator, former boyfriend Jeffrey Michael McFarland, who was also facing 24 theft counts.

Bradshaw’s punishment mirrored that of McFarland’s when he was sentenced in the magistrate division of 1st District Court last month, records show.

Together, the former couple is accused of repeatedly obtaining gas and food vouchers from CCS over a four-month period earlier this year. McFarland, 26, of Sandpoint, was accused of faking a liver cancer diagnosis and Bradshaw allegedly claimed to be caring for children even though they were no longer in her custody because of her drug use.

Bradshaw and McFarland are also awaiting sentencing on felony charges alleging they fraudulently obtained prescription painkillers from Ponderay pharmacies in January.

Sandpoint Prosecutor Lori Meulenberg called the former couple’s actions in the Community Cancer cases methodical and “egregious.”

“This was not an isolated incident. It wasn’t something spur of the moment,” said Meulenberg, who added that Bradshaw has a history of using deception to commit thefts.

Bradshaw’s public defender, Brandie Rouse, pointed out that her client is taking responsibility and acknowledges the seriousness of her offenses. Rouse added that Bradshaw hopes to regain access to her children.

“It’s with this in mind that we would ask for some leniency with regard to jail time only because she needs to make significant progress with her (child protection) case plan in order to keep her children,” Rouse said.

Buchanan, however, pointed out that Bradshaw committed the charity thefts and the prescription fraud after losing custody of her kids.

“You can’t use having children as an excuse to commit crimes and then not have a penalty,” said Buchanan.