A former Palm Beach County firefighter was given 18 months in federal jail for stealing $158,960 from Piper’s Angels Foundation Inc., a charity in North Palm Beach that helps people with cystic fibrosis. He was found guilty on three counts of theft.
On February 1, the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach, Florida, found 34-year-old Elizabeth Genna Suarez guilty of wire theft. On one count, she was found not guilty.
Suarez could have gotten up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
On Friday, Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks gave her a term of 1 1/2 years in prison, with all three counts running at the same time, and two years of supervision. She was told to show up at her jail on December 1 before 2 p.m. Suarez didn’t have to pay anything back or pay a fine, but he had to pay $300 in fees.
A dispatcher for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue told the Palm Beach Post that Suarez worked there as a firefighter and EMT from March until November.
Suarez married the charity’s founder and CEO in October 2018, so she had access to both his personal bank accounts and the charity’s business accounts. In March 2020, they got a divorce.
In 2019, she joined the charity’s board of directors and got a business credit card under the name she used when she got married. She also started taking care of the books for Piper’s Angels.
Prosecutors say that Suarez took money from the foundation’s bank accounts and used it for his own things, like plastic surgery, sunglasses, and car repairs.
