Phony autism specialist sentenced to three years in prison
November 5, 2010 in Special Needs News by Admin Dawn
he New York woman who used forged credentials to fleece more than $150,000 from families with autistic children and the Norwalk school system was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday morning.
Stacy Lore, 34, formerly of Carmel, N.Y., was given an eight-year prison sentence that will be suspended after she serves three years, followed by five years of probation. She is accused of posing as a board certified behavior analyst and told Norwalk school officials she had two master’s degrees and a doctorate so she could work for the public school district as a consultant on autism treatment services.
Victims of her scams said they paid her tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for what they though was specialized treatment for their autistic children. One such parent, Kim Graham, said she uncovered the fraud after moving her high-functioning son to another specialist who had real-life qualifications and effective therapies. She became suspicious and checked the online registry for the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. She could not find certification records for Lore. It took months for school and police officials to act, she said.
