Former Drexel University student, Jocelyn Kirsch, 23, was sentenced yesterday to five years in federal prison after stealing the identities of 16 victims to obtain $119,000 between November 2006 and November 2007, according to the Daily News.

Kirsch told U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno that she was “sorry” for what she had done and hoped that a letter she sent the judge had expressed her remorse, according to the article.

Kirsch has been in federal custody since June. She pleaded guilty July 14 to conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, fraud and money-laundering charges in a scheme that paid for trips to the Caribbean, Hawaii and Paris, as well as other luxuries.

Defense attorney Ronald Greenblatt said that Kirsch also suffered from a painful bladder ailment and that meds prescribed by doctors to treat the condition led to “disinhibition” on the part of Kirsch, according to the article.

However, the judge said the federal crimes charged here were serious.

“The defendant was living a life of crime and enjoying the fruits of that crime,” Robreno told the Daily News. “This is not a case of somebody who is so mentally ill that we should mitigate the conduct because of it.”

**Media Credit: Philadelphia Daily News