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Woman Who Stole From Cancer Victim Sentenced

POSTED: 6:01 pm PST December 2, 2008
UPDATED: 6:22 pm PST December 2, 2008

A former credit union loan officer who drained more than $80,000 from a "friend's" bank accounts, jeopardizing the victim's experimental cancer treatment, was sentenced Tuesday to a year in county jail.

Denise Ramirez, 29, pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to one count each of grand theft and identity theft.

Her victim, 38-year-old Evanthia Pappas, told Judge Stephanie Sontag she met the defendant when she helped her open a bank account in San Diego in 2006.

Pappas -- now a Sonoma County prosecutor -- told the judge that she didn't agree with the plea agreement and thought Ramirez should be sent to prison.

"She is a dangerous criminal," Pappas told the judge. "She raped me financially."

Pappas said she and Ramirez remained friends after the victim left San Diego for the job in Sonoma County in December 2006.

The victim said the defendant was visiting her when she was diagnosed in April 2007 with late-stage inflammatory breast cancer.

Pappas, who underwent conventional cancer treatment and was given little hope for survival, then went for treatment in Houston after doctors there offered her a chance to participate in an unfunded clinical trial.

Through friends and co-workers, Pappas raised more than $300,000 for the treatment and underwent a trial stem-cell transplant in January. The treatment was delayed at one point when her credit was denied.

Ramirez was arrested in September when a supposed late account was traced to a post office box that Pappas had asked Ramirez to close when she moved to Sonoma.

Pappas -- who said she is in "fragile remission" -- told the court that Ramirez used her stolen credit cards to travel on Carnival Cruise Lines and take trips to New York and Colorado.

Deputy District Attorney Joan Stein said Citibank has reimbursed Pappas $38,000, although the victim said she has yet to see the money.

The judge ordered Ramirez to pay $800 a month in restitution once she gets out of custody.

If the defendant does not disclose all illegal transactions she committed against Pappas, that could be a violation of probation and Ramirez would be sentenced to three years, eight months in state prison, Sontag said.

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