NATION : ‘Robin HUD’ Gets 46 Months for Stealing $5.7 Million From U.S.

“Robin HUD,” the former real estate agent who claimed she stole $5.7 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help the poor, was sentenced today to 46 months in prison and ordered to return $110,000 to the government.

U.S. District Judge Herbert Murray followed the prosecution recommendation to sentence Marilyn Harrell to 46 months. Federal sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 30 to 37 months, but the judge agreed to a prosecution recommendation to increase the sentence for aggravating factors.

“I have never said what I did was right,” Harrell said in court. “In fact if a person steals five cents then they should be done with whatever the court sees fit.”

Harrell, 46, was nicknamed “Robin HUD” after claiming she siphoned off millions from the sale of government-owned houses and gave most of it to charity. She pleaded guilty in January to stealing government property and filing a false tax return.

Murray also sentenced Harrell to serve three years’ probation, 624 hours of community service and make $600,000 in restitution for the embezzlement charge; she was ordered to serve one year in prison, concurrently, on the tax charge.

“Some of those funds used admittedly were for good purposes,” the judge said. “But a substantial amount of the whole sum went to you or members of your family.”

Harrell told the judge that wasn’t true.