21 Years of House Arrest for Montco Embezzler

A former title clerk at a Huntingdon Valley, Pa. settlement company will spend more than two decades under house arrest for stealing nearly half a million dollars from the company.

KYW's Brad Segall reports that the theft put her former employer out of business.

Lanette Sansoni will only be allowed to leave the house to go back and forth to work and to look for better employment.

The judge crafted the unusual 21-year house arrest sentence after the owner of JRS Settlement Services asked the judge not to send the 40-year-old Warminster woman to jail so she could continue to pay back what she stole.

Defense attorney Charles Peruto Jr. says his client is sorry for what she did:

"And I think that was part of the judge's sentence that did not include incarceration.  And as a defense lawyer, whenever a client steals this much money and doesn't get incarcerated even one day, you have to say you're happy."

Sansoni is required to repay $750  a month. If she fails to pay, she could find herself in jail. And if she pays it off early, her sentence would be reduced.

Prosecutors  says she used the money for clothes, vacations, mvoies, tuition at Penn State, and to pay off credit card bills for herself, her mother, and her daughter.

Prosecutors say Sansoni also destroyed company files in an apparent effort to cover up her crimes.

The alleged thefts were uncovered when a bank called the company to say that some of its checks were being used to pay off credit cards.