Federal Judge Denies Bail for Bucks County Hoax Mom

Bonnie Sweeten's bid for bail has been denied. She'll remain locked up until she stands trial, now scheduled for late November, on federal fraud charges.

KYW's Steve Tawa reports that Sweeten (right)  is the Bucks County mother who faked her own abduction in 2009 and went to Disney World with her daughter.

Federal Court judge William Yohn heard oral arguments at midweek but also wanted to review the records of FBI agent interviews of certain witnesses (see related story).

After serving 10 months in the Bucks County Prison on identity theft charges, Sweeten was released in late June but was immediately taken back into custody by federal marshals because of the new, 23-count indictment that alleges she stole more than $700,000 from a Feasterville law office, where she worked as a paralegal, and $280,000 from an elderly relative (another related story).

Assistant US attorney Denise Wolf told the judge that Sweeten was a substantial flight risk.

If convicted, Sweeten faces a mandatory minimum of two years, and up to nearly nine years in prison.