RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A woman who ran a controversial charity in Raleigh was sentenced Monday to at least 10 years in prison for various crimes, including four counts of felony obtain property by false pretense.
The North Carolina Secretary of State’s office investigated Jennifer Pierce’s participation in an ongoing criminal enterprise that cost two companies nearly a million dollars.
Pierce was also sentenced for felony access government computers on Monday. The sentencing for both crimes could be as long 13 years and 8 months.
Pierce led the Share Our Shoes charity until its license to operate was revoked by the state in 2012.
In May 2016, CBS 17 uncovered a number of court documents which indicate Pierce and an accomplice were using a nonexistent charity to get cellphones and tablets which were later sold for cash.
Search warrants obtained by CBS 17 allege Pierce illegally accessed the Secretary of State’s corporation’s database and made changes to reports of two corporations that she was not affiliated with.
Court documents from March 30, 2016, show Pierce and another person used false corporate documents and fake business names to illegally obtain high-value electronic devices such as cellphones and tablets from AT&T and Verizon, which were later resold for cash. The warrants say that cost the two companies upwards of a million dollars.
The Secretary of State contends the pair used a fake charity to target AT&T and Verizon.
Search warrants also assert that Pierce and the other person admitted the illegally obtained phones and tablets that were turned over to a third person to be sold for profit, with that money to be divided among all the conspirators.
Pierce and was indicted in January 2016.
