Chester woman pleads to eight cases, mostly thefts
Defense attorney says drug addiction drove her to steal
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Chester woman was sentenced to 11½ to 23 months in the county jail Thursday after entering negotiated guilty pleas on eight different dockets, most of which involved various forms of theft.
Fulah Wade, 34, of the 800 block of McDowell Avenue, entered pleas to five counts of retail theft, three counts of conspiracy to commit retail theft, two counts of access device fraud, and one count each of terroristic threats and theft by unlawful taking.
Common Pleas Court Judge John Capuzzi additionally ordered Wade to serve full back time of a combined 1,308 days for violating probation on two prior theft charges from 2013 and 2017, but allowed her to be paroled on both cases after serving the minimum 11½ for the new charges.
Wade was charged in March for conspiring with a minor Walmart employee to steal computers and other expensive electronics from the store’s Eddystone location. She was facing 31 counts in two cases there that included charges of organized retail theft, receiving stolen property, criminal trespass and conspiracy.
Assistant District Attorney Sophia Polites indicated victims in other cases included individuals, various Family Dollar locations around the county and a Save-A-Lot in Brookhaven.
Defense attorney James Bonner said Wade had a serious drug addiction and was taking up to 300 mg of oxycodone per day, which fueled her thefts. He said she had also been diagnosed with anxiety, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, and was the victim of severe mental and physical abuse.
Since her arrest in March, however, Bonner said Wade has completed one drug treatment program and is beginning to get her GED. Wade also apologized to the court, saying she got clean in jail and could not afford to lose her children.
In addition to jail time, Wade was ordered to pay a total $27,726 to the various victims, stay away from the commercial locations and individual victims identified in the pleas, and provide a DNA sample to state police. Wade was also ordered to serve a consecutive three years of probation.