Court Sentences Stony Brook Woman for Food Pantry Scheme

A Stony Brook woman who pleaded guilty recently to selling fake Tiffany jewelry in the name of charity was sentenced to five years probation this past week.

Maryann Bell, serving as the director of the Greater Port Jefferson Food Pantry, was arrested in late 2011 after police said she had sold the goods while telling customers the proceeds were going to benefit the pantry. 

Police said that when they opened the pantry it had only old food and rusty canned goods stored inside.

Bell reportedly took over the charity in the early 2000s and started concocting the scheme – to which she pleaded guilty of counterfeiting in the second degree, a felony – three years before being arrested.

After originally pleading not guilty last spring, a District Attorney spokesman said that Bell will have to forfeit $150,000 which she admitted to keeping during the charade. Authorities said she had used the money to make mortgage payments and pay for vacations.

Tiffany estimated at the time of the arrest that the cache of merchandise police seized would have been worth about $600,000 if authentic.

If Bell is found to be in violation of her probation terms, her sentence could be revisited.