By Staff
Staff Reports, Hartselle Enquirer
An Athens woman has pled guilty of identity theft in Limestone County, in return for similar charges in Madison and Morgan counties being dropped.
Tracey Marie Kelly, 38, pled guilty to first-degree theft of property and second-degree identity theft. For the theft conviction, she was sentenced to serve 10 years and ordered to pay full restitution, some $7,954. For the identity theft conviction, she was sentenced to one year imprisonment, a sentence that will run concurrently with the 10-year sentence.
Authorities said Kelly, who went by a variety of other names, stole some $7,954 in welfare benefits through theft, forgery, possession of a forged instrument and perjury. In the case in which she was convicted, Kelly took identification documents from a victim's residence. She used the identification to obtain a state identification card, Social Security card and birth certificate, all of which she used to obtain welfare benefits under a false identity.
Although the Madison and Morgan County cases were dismissed, Kelly's restitution covers the loss in those counties as well.
Kelly's case is the first prosecution by Attorney General Bill Pryor since the passage of a new law specifically dealing with identity theft.