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Weeping ex-counselor gets probation for $44K rip-off of mental health agency

Patriot-News - 5/15/2018

May 15--A former counselor was sentenced to 3 years on probation Tuesday for committing a $44,000 fraud against a Carlisle-based mental health services agency.

That penalty was agreed upon when Anne Minium, 39, of Camp Hill agreed to plead guilty to forgery and reckless endangerment charges, Cumberland County District Attorney Skip Ebert said.

Ebert said Minium billed Alternative Behavior Consultants for 438 hours she didn't work.

Kim Sweger, head of ABC, told Judge Thomas A. Placey the damage Minium caused extended far beyond her ill-gotten income. A grandfather who needed services for his grandson was robbed of that, Sweger said. There were other cases where clients were short-changed by Minium as well, she added.

"I want her to focus on the people who were harmed by this," Sweger said.

She said she hopes the criminal convictions will bar Minium from working in the counseling field ever again.

Her felony convictions should do just that, Placey replied. "The court is never going to support any request for pardons in this particular case," he said.

Defense attorney Brian Perry said Minium's crimes were spurred by "things going on in her personal life...She over-extended herself. It was never her intent to hurt anybody."

Minium choked back tears as she told the judge, "I am truly sorry...I appreciate the opportunity to not be incarcerated."

In addition to the probation sentence, Placey ordered Minium to pay back the money she stole.

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