Florida Woman Sentenced To Month In Jail Over Scheme To Sell Ashley Biden's Diary
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A Florida woman was sentenced to a month in jail on Tuesday after stealing and selling a diary belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter.
The diary in question belonged to Ashley Biden, who left it and other items in storage at a friend’s house in Delray Beach, Florida, where she had been staying in 2020. Federal prosecutors said Aimee Harris later moved into the same room and found the younger Biden’s personal items. Harris later got in touch with an associate, Robert Kurlander, and the pair conspired to sell the diary to Project Veritas.
The activist group — which has made a name in conservative circles for its attempts to embarrass Democrats and members of the media — agreed to pay them $40,000 after convincing the pair to return to the Florida home and source other items including tax documents and clothing.
Harris, 41, initially argued the items had been abandoned but she pleaded guilty in the scheme in 2022.
She repeatedly missed sentencing dates that would have likely seen her only serve probation, The New York Times reports. Federal prosecutors had only recommended she serve up to six months of home confinement, but Harris repeatedly claimed she was sick or had issues with child care and could not appear at her sentencing.
Prosecutors later said Harris had “repeatedly and consistently engaged in tactics to improperly delay this proceeding.”
A Manhattan judge ordered her to serve a month in jail and also sentenced her to three months of home confinement. Harris will be subject to three years’ probation and has been ordered to pay back the money she made selling the diary.
“I do not believe I am above the law,” Harris said in court before her sentencing, adding she was a survivor of domestic abuse and trauma. She apologized to the president’s daughter and said she regretted her actions.
Kurlander has also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later this year. He has cooperated with prosecutors and may only be required to serve probation.
