Deaf Woman Scammed, Defamed

Recently in Bucks County, 41-year-old Nancy Hellyer was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for stealing $100,000 from a deaf couple in Upper Southampton.

Hellyer also convinced Heather Goldstein to quit her job with the IRS and come work for her. Her first paycheck bounced. The con artist clearly doesn’t deserve much pity, but I don’t think we need to make her any worse than she actually is and make all deaf people seem like incompetent rubes at the same time. Right?

The victims gave the judge a letter that was not read in open court, but [Judge Albert] Cepparulo noted that Heather Goldstein said in the letter that Hellyer convinced her to quit her job at the Internal Revenue Service to come work for her, but that her first paycheck bounced.

“Now, she can’t find a job because she is deaf. Think about that,” Cepparulo told Hellyer.

Our little con artist friend Nancy didn’t, um, make Goldstein deaf. Right?

And it seems to me that she’s been able to get at least two jobs: The one at the IRS, and the fake one that didn’t pay.

Woman gets up to 10 years for defrauding deaf couple [Bucks County Courier Times]