An Upper Gwynedd woman who pleaded guilty in January to a $94,000 Covid fraud scheme has had a change of heart and wishes to withdraw her guilty plea through her attorney, according to The Reporter Newspaper.
Mary Ann Steed, 50, of the 1400 block of Oxford Circle, now disagrees with the prosecution’s facts and told her lawyer Andrew Alston she was "forced” to agree with the prosecution’s outline of facts, per the report.
Steed pleaded guilty to felony dealing in proceeds of illegal acts, theft by deception, forgery and conspiracy to deal in unlawful proceeds on Jan. 24, per Montgomery County court records.
"Defendant Mary Steed did not have enough time to fully comprehend and decide if a plea was in her best interests. Defendant Mary Steed now has had the opportunity to realize and appreciate the significance of her plea and now desires to proceed to trial,” Alston wrote in a court filing to withdraw the guilty plea, per the report.
Prosecutor Gwendolyn Marie Kull, an assistant district attorney with Montgomery County, said Steed’s claims are implausible, per the report.
"During the extensive plea, defendant evinced no signs she was under the influence or incapable of understanding what she was doing. She considerately listened to and admitted to the factual basis as laid out (by prosecutors), including identifying Vernon Steed as her co-conspirator,” Kull wrote in the filings, per the article.
Steed’s husband Vernon, a convicted murderer and a former member of the Montgomery County Prison Board, is free on $97,077 bail and has yet to be tried on the Covid fraud charges, which authorities allege occurred between April and September 2021.
Detectives allege that the fraudulent scheme orchestrated by Steed resulted in a total theft of $94,875. Vernon Steed, per the article, spent 32 years in prison for his role as a juvenile in a Philadelphia homicide, per reports.
County detectives have accused Vernon Steed of engaging in deceitful practices by filing false claims using the identities of others, including his deceased sister-in-law, which he allegedly listed as "landlord,” to obtain rental assistance, per the report. Vernon Steed allegedly marred documents to show that the applicants also owed back rent payments, per the report.
Your Way Home, tasked with managing COVID relief funds in Montgomery County during the pandemic, distributed financial aid to various social service agencies. These agencies were tasked with reviewing applications from financially strapped tenants facing eviction. Once approved, these funds were allocated to landlords on behalf of tenants unable to afford rent due to COVID-19, per the report.
After a while, Your Way Home scrutinized the submitted applications and flagged Steed’s application, per the report. One individual who Steed allegedly defrauded for a Pottstown rental assistance claim told detectives he did not know about the application, which requested $12,800, per the report. Furthermore, the alleged victim stated Steed gave him $800 for his personal information and told him to keep quiet, police said.
Steed allegedly found his exploited individuals through his ministry, authorities said. Steed, per court documents, provided mentorship and motivational speeches for a Hopeworx Inc.-affiliated recovery house, per the report.
Vernon Steed, who was 17 at the time, and a co-defendant were convicted of first-degree murder in July 1988 for a Sept. 8, 1985 fatal shooting of an innocent bystander, per reports. Steed was given life in prison, according to court documents. However, Steed successfully appealed his sentence once the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles were unconstitutional, per reports.
Former Democratic County Commissioners Dr. Valerie Arkoosh and Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. appointed Steed to the county Prison Board of Inspectors in June 2022. Steed resigned April 21, 2023, three days before theft charges were lodged against him.
Read more details on The Reporter Online.
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Man Who Called in Threats Against Septa Regional Rail, District Judge Pleads Guilty
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