Taylor woman sentenced to house arrest for unauthorized credit card use
Jan. 31—SCRANTON — A Taylor woman will serve time on house arrest for racking up thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on her former employer's credit cards.
Jennifer Aniska, 32, was sentenced Tuesday by Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse to two years of restrictive punishment, with the first 90 days on house arrest, for her Aug. 22 guilty plea to one count of access device fraud.
Aniska was arrested by county detectives in April and charged with making $41,352 in unauthorized charges on five credit card accounts belonging to the Aaron Center, the outpatient behavioral health clinic where she worked, between February and October 2021.
She was also accused of stealing about $500 worth of equipment from the center and pawning it at local pawn shops.
Aniska, who was fired after the losses were discovered, told investigators most of the charges were for gift cards that she used to gamble online and buy lottery tickets, according to her arrest affidavit.
Standing in front of the judge with her attorney, Paul Walker, Aniska told Barrasse that she has a job and has been sober since July.
"I have turned my life around for the better," Aniska said.
As part of the sentence, Barrasse ordered the defendant to continue to receive drug and mental health counseling.
Assistant District Attorney Michael McGrath told the court Aniska has made full restitution to the Aaron Center.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132
