Former immigration attorney still owes $40K in restitution for Boulder County theft case

Dec. 10—A Boulder County judge has ordered that a former immigration attorney will still have to pay about $40,000 in restitution after accepting a plea deal in her theft case.

Emily Cohen, 42, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of theft, a Class 5 felony.

Cohen was originally found guilty on 13 of 21 theft counts following a 2014 trial after prosecutors said she collected more than $41,000 in combined fees from seven immigrant families, then dropped out of contact without producing the visas and work permits she had promised her clients.

Cohen was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $42,530 following the original conviction.

But the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned the convictions in 2018, and Cohen accepted a new plea deal rather than go through with a retrial on eleven theft counts.

While Boulder District Judge Andrew Hartman ruled that Cohen had served her prison sentence on the original case and gave her time served on the new plea deal, at the request of prosecutors he reinstated the restitution amount, according to the Boulder County District Attorney's Office.

Boulder County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Shannon Carbone said Cohen had only paid $2,700 back at the time her original conviction was overturned, so she still owes $39,830.

Cohen still has a pending forgery case after officials said she faked documents claiming she had COVID-19 in order to avoid appearing in person for court hearings related to her theft trial.

Cohen was arrested on a failure to appear warrant in Iowa and was extradited to the Boulder County Jail.

Following the resolution of her theft case, Cohen's bond was changed from a $100,000 secured bond to a $100,000 personal recognizance bond over the objection of prosecutors, and she was released from custody.

She has a status conference on that case on Jan. 24.