Year in jail for Mrs. N.J. 2005
The pageant winner pleaded guilty to writing more than $70,000 in bad checks.
NEWARK, N.J. - A former Mrs. New Jersey beauty queen characterized as a master of deception was sentenced yesterday to a year in jail for writing more than $70,000 in bad checks.
Superior Court Judge Torkwase Sekou had sharp words for Heather "Hedy" DiCarlo, 2005 winner of the Mrs. New Jersey U.S. pageant, as she handed down the sentence of a year minus a day, the maximum allowed under a plea agreement reached with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office in January.
DiCarlo's looks and charitable work masked a darker side, Sekou said.
"A lot of people come to this courtroom every day, and not one has had even close to the privileged life Ms. DiCarlo has had," she said.
"The difference is, she is a master of deception," he added. "It would send a bad message to people who are much less fortunate to give her just a slap on the wrist."
Dressed in a white pantsuit with her hair in a ponytail, DiCarlo, 36, dabbed at tears during the proceeding.
She appeared distraught when handcuffed by a court officer as Sekou handed down the sentence, but the cuffs were removed minutes later when the judge agreed to let her report to the Essex County Jail on June 8, after her children's graduations.
"I completely agree with your sentencing," DiCarlo told Sekou. "I accept full responsibility."
Sekou rejected the request of Paul Bergrin, DiCarlo's attorney, to give his client probation.
The judge noted that DiCarlo, who now lives in Bradenton, Fla., with her 5- and 7-year-old sons, had been arrested eight times in 10 years, mostly for theft-related offenses, and was sentenced to six months in jail in 1999.
Had she been convicted at trial, DiCarlo could have faced a jail sentence of at least 10 years, according to Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Robert Grady.
She will probably serve about two months, according to Bergrin.
He said his client's problems stemmed from a divorce that left her in debt.
According to police, DiCarlo wrote bad checks for expensive tables, chairs, and couches to an antiques store in Sloatsburg, N.Y., in 2007. She pleaded guilty to three counts of writing bad checks and one count of theft by deception.
Neither Sekou nor the Prosecutor's Office was swayed by letters outlining DiCarlo's charity and community work or by her claims of financial difficulties.
Her house in Essex Fells, a wealthy suburb in North Jersey, contained antiques "that would be at home in the Palace of Versailles," Grady said. "It would appear the greatest charity here was Ms. DiCarlo."