A Florida mother was sentenced Tuesday to one month in jail and three months of house arrest for allegedly stealing and selling President Joe Biden’s merchandise. daughter’s diary to the conservative group Project Veritas four years ago.
Aimee Harris was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who called the Palm Beach, Florida, woman’s actions “despicable.”
Harris admitted his guilt In August 2022, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to accept $20,000 of the $40,000 paid by Project Veritas for personal items belonging to the president’s daughter, Ashley Biden.
Project Veritas, It was founded in 2010, identifies itself as a news organization. Best known for hidden camera stings that embarrass news outlets, labor organizations and Democratic politicians.
A tearful Harris apologized in 2020 for allowing the sale of Ashley Biden’s personal writings after finding a diary and other items at a friend’s home in Delray Beach, Florida, where prosecutors said her belongings were kept safe after her temporary stay. he said he believed. spring 2020.
“I don’t believe I’m above the law,” Harris said after a prosecutor sentenced her to prison after she failed to show up for multiple sentencing dates due to custody of her two children, ages 8 and 6.
“I’m a long-term survivor of domestic violence and sexual trauma,” she said.
With Ashley Biden’s lawyer watching from the courtroom audience, Harris apologized to the president’s daughter and expressed his regret for revealing his childhood and life to the public.
In announcing the sentence, Swain noted that Harris and co-defendant Robert Kurlander of Jupiter, Florida, initially tried unsuccessfully to sell Ashley Biden’s belongings to then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.
The judge said he hoped Harris would influence the country’s political landscape in addition to being motivated by greed.
Kurlander and Harris, who have not yet been sentenced, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines.
Defense attorney Anthony Cecutti urged that his client not go to prison, citing his traumatic life and efforts to care for his children while recovering from violence and abuse.
“He carries the shame and stigma of his actions,” he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman sentenced Harris to prison, saying he exhibited “a pattern of contempt for the law and the justice system.”
“Ms. Harris is not a victim in this case,” Sobelman said. Biden is the victim in this case.”
He said Harris stole Ashley Biden’s diary, digital memory card, books, clothes, luggage and “anything he could get his hands on” in the summer of 2020 in hopes of “making as much money as he could.”
“He wanted to hurt Mrs. Biden’s father,” he said.
Harris was told to go to jail in July. He declined to speak as he left the courthouse.
Ashley Biden’s attorney also declined to comment, although he submitted a letter on his client’s behalf to the judge a day earlier that was not immediately included in the court record.